Orphaned
by eskie02
Summary: Branch is a young troll who after a sudden tragedy has to go live with his distant family. Now gray, alone and completely unwanted he struggles in finding a place where he truly belongs. A trolls AU Story Please Read and review
1. Chapter 1

A young gray troll walked in silence along side two trolls both of them refused to even look at him. He held tightly onto a small blanket, it was he had left to remember them by. He closed his eyes to stop any tears from falling….

 ** _-Flash-back-_**

Two trolls danced away in the moonlight, they were locked into each other's eyes and nothing else seemed to matter to them. As they danced they were completely unaware that they were being watched by someone. The young teal troll was fascinated by the way that they moved so in sync together. The older male troll stopped and looked over toward the spot where the young troll was hiding, and he smiled "Aren't you supposed to be at home in bed?"

The smaller troll slowly walked out of his hiding spot with his head down "I'm sorry daddy," he replied in a squeaky voice.

This caused the older troll to chuckle and shake his head "It's okay son," he said proudly as he stood aside "you want to dance with your mom?"

The small troll's face lit up as he rushed over with his arms open wide, the female troll embraced him in a warm loving hug. "Okay Branch," she said smiling down at him "follow my lead."

The young troll started moving along following her lead then she switched and let him lead for a bit. "You take after your old man when it comes to dancing," his dad boasted from the side lines.

"I think it's time for bed," his mother said, "we have a big day tomorrow."

"That's right," his dad added "we're going to visit my sister and her family tomorrow."

Branch smiled knowing that meant that they were going to his cousin Creek's house to play and have fun. He took each of his parent's hands as they started walking back to their pod together, once back home his mother proceeded to tucking him in for the second time that night.

"Now get some sleep my little Angel," she cooed as she gently stroked the side of his face.

"Yes Mama," he replied just as a big yawn came.

His father stood at the doorway proud of his little family "Night son," he said.

"Night…." the small troll whispered before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

The next morning Branch was the first one awake and he quickly got dressed before rushing to what was taking his parents so long. "Time to get up!" he exclaimed.

"Branch it's too early," his father groaned as he turned away from the small troll and covered his head up with the blanket.

His mother laughed as she sat up in bed "Why don't we let daddy rest for a little longer?" she asked "And you can come help me make some breakfast."

Branch thought about it for a minute before agreeing "Okay!"

"What do you want to make?" she asked as they entered the kitchen.

"Pancakes!" Branch happily replied.

"Pancakes it is then," she replied already gathering the ingredients to make them.

Branch like helping his mom in the kitchen it made him feel important and she would always praise him for helping even if most of the time he made more of a mess than anything. By the time the last pancake was cooking his dad came walking in "There's my two favorite trolls," he said with a wide smile.

"I helped!" Branch said proudly.

"Good job," he dad replied giving him a thumb's up.

After breakfast they headed over to Aunt Hazel and Uncle Brier's pod which was the next village over. Branch had only been there a couple times, but he remembered it always smelled like cookies thanks to Creek's grandma. This time was no different and in fact a plate of cookies welcomed the wide-eyed troll, Branch was allowed to grab one cookie before he rushed off to find Creek so they could play. This time something went wrong with the visit and it was cut extremely short, it seemed like they had just gotten there when Branch was being pulled right back out.

"I thought we were going to spend the whole day there?" he asked but received no response from either of his parents. That was the last time he saw his cousin and his family for a few years.

 ** _-end of flashback-_**

Now he was heading back to there but under different circumstances. This time he was alone, and it was all his fault. The moment they entered the village he couldn't help but to feel uncomfortable from all the stares he seemed to attract.

"I told you!" his aunt hissed as she reached down and grabbing a hold of his wrist and yanking him along.

"Well we're his only family so he has to stay with us," his uncle tried to whisper but Branch still heard. At last their pod came into view as they hurried toward it. Once inside Branch was greeted warmly by Creek's grandma "I'm so glad to see you Branch," she said giving him a gently hug.

"Hello Mrs. Rosiepuff," he replied.

"You can call me Grandma too if you want to?" she explained.

The young gray troll smiled slightly "Okay."

"Okay Dears," Grandma Rosiepuff said standing up straight "I have to get going."

"Thanks for watching Creek, Mom," Uncle Brier said.

"It was my pleasure," she replied heading towards the exit "see you all real soon."

"Branch, why don't you take your things to Creek's room," Brier suggest "since you two will be bunking together."

The young gray troll did as he was told and carried his blanket toward his cousin's room. "What happened to you?" were the first words out of Creek's mouth.

"He lost his colors because of what he did," Aunt Hazel said as she shoved her nephew into her son's room. "You see that spot over there?" she asked pointing in the direction of an empty corner of the room.

"Yeah," Branch replied slowly.

"That is where you are going to sleep, got it?"

"But…." Branch started to say

She shook her head "That extra bed is for Creek's friends when they sleep over not you."

"Oh," the young troll replied feeling completely unwelcomed.

"WELL!" she snapped causing him to jump slightly "Go put your thing over there."

Again, Branch did as he was told and placed his blanket neatly in the corner and sat down on the floor, h could feel his aunt glaring at him, but he was too afraid to look up for fear that he would get in trouble/

"I have to go finish making supper," she said finally leaving the two kids alone.

"You know she doesn't like you," Creek quickly blurted out "she said it's because of you Uncle Birch isn't here anymore. Is that true?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Branch sighed looking down at the ground.

"She said you killed your parents."

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Branch snapped "Now leave me alone!"

"Fine!" Creek snapped back before mumbling "Orphan," just loud enough for Branch to hear.


	2. Chapter 2

Branch let out a heavy sigh as he sat up stairs alone for what was probably his hundredth time since he arrived at his aunt and uncle's pod just a few short weeks ago. He was being punished for acting out again, this time it was because Creek decided it would be funny to poke his cousin in the side hard.

"Stop it!" he snapped at the smirking purple troll who quickly turned around and poked Branch even harder in the side. This time instead of telling Creek to stop Branch shoved him away causing him to fall backwards and cry which beckoned Aunt Hazel right away.

"Creek, what is it sweetie?" she asked as she entered the room to find her son on the ground and Branch standing over him. "You little brat!" she hissed at Branch before quickly rushing over to Creek's side.

"He shoved me for no reason Mummy," Creek lied as big fake tears ran down his cheeks "I was just asking him a question."

Even if Branch tried to defend himself he already knew it would do no good because Little Creekie never did anything wrong. "You, ungrateful little troll!" Aunt Hazel hissed glaring back at Branch as she helped Creek up off the ground "I want you to turn around to face the wall and not to move until I say so."

Once Branch was facing the wall he heard Creek asked, "Can we make some cupcakes?"

"Sure thing," she replied.

"And do I have to share any with him since he pushed me?"

"Of course not," she replied leading her son of the room and away from the short-tempered troll.

All afternoon Branch stood staring at the blank wall all the way up until heard his uncle return home which meant that dinner would soon be served, and his time-out would be over.

"Dinner time!" his aunt called from the dining area.

Branch made his way into the dining room where three spots were made up at the table leaving the one where he sat blank. "What are you doing here?" Aunt Hazel asked placing her hands on her hips.

"I thought you said it was time for dinner?" he mumbled.

"Oh, I did," she replied, "but did I call your name?"

"No," he whispered hanging his head and looking down at the ground.

"Well then go back to the room!" she hissed "I don't want to see your face for the rest of the night, got it?"

Branch slowly nodded his head just as a loud growl escaped from his belly. "Are you hungry?" she asked.

"Yes," he mumbled

"Well you should have thought about that before you hurt my son," she replied leading him back to the room.

Once back in the room Branch tried his best to ignore the yummy aromas from the kitchen that filled the air, he bit the bottom of his lip as his belly screamed at him again. "Don't think about it," he scolded himself trying desperately to think about something else. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply remembering all the wonderful things his mother use to make, his favorite was her fresh berry pancakes with freshly made berry syrup.

Deep in thought Branch had failed to notice that his cousin had returned to the room "Boy was that dinner yummy," he mocked patting his full belly "too bad you had to miss it."

"I don't care," Branch replied quietly.

"Bed time boys," Uncle Brier said walking into the room "tomorrow is the first day of school."

School the very thing Branch had been dreading since coming to this village, every troll that he encountered here all acted like he was poisonous or something. He knew school would be no different, in fact it would most likely be a thousand times worst. It did not take Creek long to fall asleep and soon his soft snores filled the room Branch on the other hand tossed and turned from being hungry. A part of him wanted to sneak into the kitchen and maybe grab a single grape or something to take away his burning hunger. He heard his aunt and uncle voices, so using his ears he started listening what they were saying.

"Oh Brier," his aunt said, "that kid is such a handful."

"I know Hun," Uncle Brier replied, "but he's you brother's son."

"Don't remind me," she replied, "why couldn't have been him and his mother that were attacked and not my brother?"

"I don't know."

"It's because of that little pest that I will never see him again," she continued "and he thinks he can just waltz in here and start hurting our son? I mean who the heck does he think he is?"

Branch sat up wishing that he could turn back time and give his Aunt Hazel what she wanted but he couldn't, he knew she would like him because of it.


	3. Chapter 3

"What if everyone teases me because of him?" Creek asked looking over at his gray cousin. Aunt Hazel pulled her son into a tight hug "Just hold your head up high and ignore them," she replied. On the way to school Branch walked just behind his aunt and cousin with his head hung low looking down at the ground.

"Will you keep up!" Aunt Hazel snapped causing Branch to jump slightly.

"Yeah hurry up!" Creek smirked.

"Sorry," the young grey troll whispered as he hurried to try and keep up.

The troll school came into view and Branch couldn't help but to feel nervous, he was terrified that he would become the laughing stock because of his un-troll like color. Maybe he was worrying about nothing and they would just look passed his grey toned skin. He watched as his aunt hug Creek and secretly wished he was being hugged by his mother. After the hug Aunt Hazel stepped away from her son and said lovingly "I'm so proud of you Creek."

Creek smiled proudly before heading inside the giant school pod leaving Branch just standing there staring. "Well?" his aunt asked raising her eyebrows "What are you waiting for?"

The young troll opened his mouth to say something, but his aunt quickly cut him off "Do you think you are too good to go in, is that it?"

"No," he quickly replied, "it's not that."

"Then!" she snapped grabbing a hold of his wrist and pulling hard towards the entrance of the school pod "Get inside!"

"You're hurting me," he tried telling her, but she did seem to care and just yanked him even harder until they both stood in front of the entrance. She stopped and bent down to his level and said, "I don't want you messing anything up for Creek, do you understand me?"

"Yes," he whispered wondering how on earth he could possibly mess anything up for his cousin.

"If I hear you messed even the slightest thing up for him you'll be in so much trouble!" she hissed "Now get in there and behave!"

Branch swallowed hard as he slowly walked through the entrance of the school, he wanted to just run and hide as far away from here as possible, but he knew his aunt was still watching so he had no choice but to proceed inside. "You must be out new student Branch," a tall bright yellow troll said. Branch just nodded.

"Don't be shy," the troll chuckled "I'm Principle Skylark. I'll show you to your class."

Branch followed the troll through the halls and passed several other students which Branch could feel their judging stares on him. Principle Skylark stopped in front of a classroom door with the name Ms. Petal's Class on it, he opened the door and stepped aside allowing Branch room to go through. The young troll hesitated at first as he struggled to find the courage to walk in. He took in a deep breath before entering and the moment he was in the entire class got completely silent. He felt so out of place in a room full of bright rainbow-colored trolls.

"Class this is Branch," Principle Skylark said before handing off to who Branch figured as Ms. Petal.

"Welcome Branch," she said sweetly "why do you go find a seat in the back."

As Branch made his way to the back of the class one of the trolls thought it would be funny to trip the new weird looking troll so just Branch was about to pass he stuck his foot out causing him to fall forward. The sound of giggles and laughs filled the room, Branch quickly got to his feet and rushed to his seat before anything else happened. About mid-morning all classes took a break and the students could go out and play in the sunshine, Branch chose to find a seclude spot away from the others. He sat by himself until a ball rolled beside him, he looked over at the ball then to the other students who were just staring at him. He got his feet and picked up the ball then walked back to the others, he held it out for someone to take but instead got ambushed by insults.

"Ew, gross!" one girl exclaimed with a disgusted "I'm touching it after he's touched it."

"Why'd you have to touch Weirdo!" another troll snapped.

"Not it has ugly germs!"

Branch quickly regretted picking up the ball and he wanted to just get out of there, but they had surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves preying on the weaker prey.

This did not go unnoticed by a slightly younger bright pink troll who had been playing with her friends at the other side of the play area. "I don't get it?" she asked, "He was just trying to be nice and give back the ball."

"I guess it's because he's not like the rest of us," her reddish color friend replied.

"Yeah but?"

"Come on Poppy," her larger blue friend replied, "let's just finish our tea party before we have to get back to class."

"Okay," she sighed settling back down to their tea party.

"I really didn't mean to upset you," Branch tried to explain still trying to offer back their ball.

"Nobody wants to touch it after you've had your stupid hands all over it!" a troll a few inches taller shouted.

"He's so ugly looking," he heard some-troll say behind him.

"He has a face only his mother could love," another troll said loudly.

"I heard his mom dead," another troll spoke up "and my mommy said it was because of him."

Branch had enough he dropped the ball and ran past them causing them to scream when he touched them trying to get through. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, but he was too embarrassed to let them fall in front of them knowing they would just laugh and make fun of him even more. He ran into a nearby bush where no matter how hard he tried to stop himself from crying he failed. He did not want to be here he wanted to home his home, the home where felt secure and not like an outsider. The bell rang signaling that playtime was now over and it was time to head back to class. Branch slowly emerged and walked back to class where the troll that sat on his right side thought it would be funny to hit him in the face with a couple of spit balls. The rest of the day seemed to go by smoothly until it was time to leave. When the bell rang Creek quickly left the room leaving his cousin behind, Branch knew it was because he did not want to be seen anywhere near him.

"See you tomorrow," Ms. Petal said kindly as Branch left the room.

"Bye," he replied softly.

He hurried to the entrance only to find Aunt Hazel and Creek had already walked away without even waiting for him. His aunt knew he wasn't that familiar with finding his way home yet and Branch knew that if he wasn't home in a certain amount of time she would be upset. He started walking in the direction he hoped was the right way.

"Look," one of the trolls from the play area said as he pointed at the wandering gray troll.

"Let's teach him a lesson about not touching things that aren't his," another one suggested

As Branch hurried along the path something hard hit him the back of the head. "Just ignore it," he tried to tell himself, but a few harder objects hit him and bounced off. He looked down and saw a few small rocks lying there but before he time to react a bigger rock came flying at him and hit him in the side of the face. At first it came as a shock to the young troll but soon he took off running as fast as his small legs could go, as he ran more rocks hit him. His Aunt's pod came into view and could breath a sigh of relief until he tried the door handle and saw that it was locked.

"Aunt Hazel!" he pleaded "Please open up!"

From inside Hazel could hear her nephew's pleas but instead of being a good aunt she chose to ignore them. When Branch realized his aunt wasn't going to answer the door he turned to face the trolls that had chased him with rocks. They had two larger ones left they quickly loaded into their friend's hair and he shot it out at full speed. Branch tried to turn away from it, but it hit the side of his face so hard that it started to bleed and the second one hit him in the lower back. Though both had hurt but nothing hurt Branch as much as knowing that his aunt wanted him to get hurt. The troll kids now out of rocks decided to that was enough fun for today walked off laughing and give each other high fives. Aunt Hazel finally opened the door only to send her nephew right up to his room where he spent the remainder of the night being punished for causing trouble at school.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh my!" Grandma Rosiepuff gasped the moment she saw Branch and the mark on the side of his face. "What happened?" she asked with such care and concern in her voice that reminded the young gray troll of his mother.

"He's been acting out in school," Aunt Hazel lied staring down at Branch who could feel her icy stare from behind "Isn't that right Branch?"

"Yes," he mumbled lowering his head and looking down at the ground.

"But that doesn't explain how he got that awful mark," Rosiepuff pointed out to Aunt Hazel's annoyance.

"Like I said," Aunt Hazel explained through gritted teeth "he was acting out at school the other day and attacked another student, so the other kid fought back."

"I see," Rosiepuff replied before changing the subject "Well, the boys and I are going to have fun this weekend while you and Brier go on your trip."

Aunt Hazel's face lightened up "Yeah, thanks again for watching them."

"You know I enjoy watching my grandson," Rosiepuff replied giving both boys a warm smile.

"You have to watch him though," Aunt Hazel warned pointing toward her nephew "he is a huge handful."

Grandma Rosiepuff just waved it off "I'm sure we will be fine."

"Well alright," Hazel sighed before bending down to give Creek a hug "I'll see you in a few days Sweetie," she whispered in his ear.

Branch slowly turned around to watch his aunt give his cousin all her attention, this did not go unnoticed by Rosiepuff. She could see that he craved positive interaction that her daughter in-law seemed to just ignore, which was probably the reason he acted out in the first place. Aunt Hazel stood up straight and started to walk away.

"Hazel wait!" Rosiepuff called.

"Yes?" she asked turning back toward the older troll.

"You should give both boys a hug," Rosiepuff explained.

Hazel let out an impatient groan as she unwilling walked back to her nephew an hugged him. Her hug felt forced and unreal so much that Branch flinched away. "There," she huffed "Now I'm leaving."

Creek watched his mom leave until she was completely out of sight before he turned toward his grandma with a huge smile and asked, "Did you make any cookies yet Grandma?"

"Not yet," she replied sweetly "I was hoping you two could help me."

The smile quickly faded from the purple troll's face, he did not like the sound of that at all. Grandma Rosiepuff had the kitchen all set up and waiting with all the ingredients laid out neatly. Both young trolls entered the kitchen but only Creek jumped up and started placing everything in the mixing bowl.

"Branch, don't you want to help?" Grandma Rosiepuff asked.

Branch looked up at her as if to ask, "Are you sure you want my help?"

"Come on Sweetheart," she said sweetly as she placed a loving hand on his shoulder and encouraged him to help with the cookies.

"Can't I have a turn?" he asked quietly as Creek began mixing the ingredients together.

Creek frowned as he handed over the mixing spoon he did not want to share with Branch, but he knew Grandma was watching. After taking turns mixing and placing each cookie on a baking sheet Grandma Rosiepuff took over and placed them in the oven. It wasn't long before the smell of fresh baked cookies filled the pod and Branch could feel his tummy rumbling. It had been a while since he had last eaten which was breakfast and even so that was only a couple berries and a mint leaf. When the cookies were done baking, Branch watched as Grandma Rosiepuff carefully placed aside because they had to cool down a bit before they would get to eat any.

Later that evening they all settled onto the couch to watch the fire dance around as Grandma Rosiepuff began to sing softly….

 ** _Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby  
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay  
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow  
Bless you with love for the road that you go…._**

Creek was already cuddled up close to his grandma and slowly starting to nod off to sleep. Branch watched secretly wanting to do the same, but he was afraid of getting in trouble even though Grandma Rosiepuff had treated him so much kindlier than his aunt does. Grandma Rosiepuff noticed this and lifted her left arm showing him that he was welcome to join her and Creek. Branch slowly scooted over and gently leaned into her side, she lowered her arm onto him, so he could feel wanted and secure. As she continued to sing Branch could feel his eyes getting heavier and heavier, he hadn't felt this way in long time and it felt good.

 ** _May you sail fair to the far fields of fortune  
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet  
And may you need never to banish misfortune  
May you find kindness in all that you meet…_**

Grandma Rosiepuff looked down at the now sleeping Branch and couldn't help but to feel sadden by the dark mark on the side of his face, she could see a faint cut there as well. She felt him nuzzle up closer to her and she began wonder if he had in fact attacked another troll or was her daughter in-law just saying that to cover up what really had happened? Branch needed to be loved and was going to give it to him because it seemed like no one else was.

 _ **May there always be angels to watch over you**_  
 _ **To guide you each step of the way**_  
 _ **To guard you and keep you safe from all harm**_  
 _ **Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay**_

 _ **May you bring love and may you bring happiness**_  
 _ **Be loved in return to the end of your days**_  
 _ **Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you**_  
 _ **I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay…**_

When she was finished singing Rosiepuff very carefully got up trying her best not to disturb either sleeping troll. Once she was free she bent down and gave each one a soft kiss on their foreheads before going off to her room to sleep….


	5. Chapter 5

When Branch woke up the next morning he was greeted with the yummy smells of fresh baked muffins and a not so happy looking Creek, who was sitting up next to him with a sour scowl on his face. Branch immediately felt guilty and ashamed even though he had not done anything wrong. He could tell by his cousin's face he was angry with him.

"BREAKFAST!" Grandma Rosiepuff called from the kitchen.

Creek gave Branch one last look before he jumped off the couch and walked out to the dining room to sit at the table. Branch stayed behind a bit before he slowly slid off the couch and walked to the dining room to join Creek at the table. Grandma Rosiepuff smiled as she placed a basket full of fresh baked muffins onto the table "How about we go to the beach today?" she asked, "We can pack a picnic if you'd like?"

After breakfast Branch helped Grandma Rosiepuff make some sandwiches for their picnic lunch while Creek just went to relax on the couch. The purple troll had just settled down when he noticed that his cousin had stayed behind and was pretending to want to help but Creek knew the truth. He knew Branch was only doing to make himself look good while he looked bad. "I wanna help!" Creek cried as he rushed back into the kitchen shoving past his cousin.

"Oh my," Grandma Rosiepuff said turning toward her grandson "the more the merrier."

After Grandma Rosiepuff turned back around Creek gave Branch and intense glare. Branch could tell by the way Creek was staring at him that he would somehow get into trouble for just trying to be helpful.

At the beach Branch couldn't help but to notice that it was filled with happy looking trolls and their families, every one of them a bright color. "What's wrong?" Creek asked just loud enough for Branch to hear when he suddenly stopped "Too ashamed to go…because of the way you look?"

"We'll set up our picnic over by that tree," Grandma Rosiepuff said pointing toward a nearby tree.

Creek led the way as he happily skipped across the beach, Branch sighed before he started to follow. The young troll felt the atmosphere on the beach suddenly change when he stepped out on it, he could feel everyone staring at him and it made him feel completely uncomfortable. The young troll lowered his head and quickly walked past them, because he was walking with his head down he did not notice that his cousin had stopped right in front of him until he bumped right into Creek.

"HEY!" Creek hissed shoving Branch away "Watch were you're going!"

Grandma Rosiepuff quickly looked back at the two trolls "Now Creek," she said calmly "I'm sure Branch did not mean to run into you."

"Sorry," Branch mumbled looking up at his cousin to see the awful glare he was being given.

"You see Creek," Grandma replied with a smile "Branch is sorry."

Creek continued to give Branch a nasty look for a few more seconds before stomping away mumbling "Orphan," under his breath.

Grandma Rosiepuff walked back over to the silent troll "Want to help me set up the picnic?"

Branch slowly nodded his head before grabbing the opposite end of the blanket and helped lay it down straight. Rosiepuff watched the young troll as he quietly worked beside her, she could not help but to feel a sadness come over her. He was unlike any other troll his own age, a troll that age should be playing with and making new friends.

"So, Sweetie," she said calmly and taking a seat on the blanket "how did you really get that mark on your face?"

"I got into a fight," he lied remembering how Aunt Hazel refused to unlock the pod door to let him when he was being chased by the others. And how she acted when she finally let him in. He had been sent straight to his corner in the room until Aunt hazel joined him. He remembered the way she grabbed a large amount of hair and dragged him toward the bathroom where she proceeded to clean his cut the most painful way she possible could. She also could not stop saying how much she hated him and how she wished it was him and not her brother who perished in the attack.

"Why did you get in a fight?"

"Because I felt like it," he whispered closing his eyes tightly trying to hide a couple tears that were threating to come out. "I'm a bad troll."

"Branch, you're not a bad troll," Rosiepuff replied giving him an encouraging smile.

"Yes, I am," he said in his head.

"Excuse me," a troll parent said walking up their blanket "but do you mind moving somewhere else?"

"What…Why?" Rosiepuff asked getting to her feet.

"Because none of us feel comfortable sharing the beach with….well… you know…" the troll replied with hesitation as he kept glancing toward Branch. "It makes my family and all the other families here uncomfortable."

"He has every right to be here," Rosiepuff quickly added.

The troll looked offended by her reply "I wasn't saying that he did not have every right to be hear, all I was asking if you could move so he wasn't an eyesore to look at."

Rosiepuff could not believe what she was hearing, this troll wanted them to move because Branch was what they called an 'eyesore'. "Well we're not moving."

Knowing that he was causing an upset on the beach Branch slowly got to his feet and went for a walk. He hadn't gotten very far when his cousin popped out in front of him.

"I don't like the way you've been trying to steal my grandma." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Branch asked, "I'm not trying to steal your grandma."

"SHE'S MY GRANDMA!" Creek snapped giving his cousin a hard shove back "NOT YOURS!"

"I know she's not my grandma," Branch replied.

"Then stay away!" Creek shouted giving his cousin another hard shove but this time it was right into a bump on a rock. Branch's already bruised back slammed hard into it causing him to wince in pain. Creek was full aware of his cousin's giant bruise on his back from being hit hard the other day, so it only made it funnier to see the pain on his face. "Everyone was happier before you came along," Creek said smugly as he pushed more of his weight into Branch causing the bump on the rock to jam further into his back.

"STOP!" Branch cried finally shoving his cousin away.

Creek gave a gleeful look "When I tell my mom you shoved me you are going to be in so much trouble," he said before skipping happily away.

Branch knew Creek was right about his aunt she was going to be so upset that he attacked her son, it did not matter why he had pushed Creek away in her eyes. He stood there replaying 'Everyone was happier before you came along' over and over in his head and each time it did it hurt more and more. "Maybe it would be better if I just disappeared?" he asked himself before setting off in an unknown direction…..


	6. Chapter 6

At first Rosiepuff figured that Branch was just exploring close by but when he failed to show up for lunch she began to worry. "Creek, have you seen Branch?" she asked the young trollmwho was sitting on the blanket happily eating his sandwich.

"Nope," the purple troll replied before taking another big bite and without making any eye contact with her whatsoever "maybe he went for a walk or something."

"Maybe," she replied "but he should have been back by now."

Creek frowned the last thing he wanted to do was talk about his weird cousin, in fact he did not see why his grandma was so worried about where he was in the first place? They were better off without him anyway.

More time started to pass and Rosiepuff became more worried it would soon start getting dark. That meant the temperatures would drop dramatically or predators would be out just looking for their next tasty meal. A young troll like Branch did not stand a chance against a hungry creature that was more than ten times his size.

"Come on Creek," Rosiepuff said as she started packing up their picnic stuff "we have to find him."

"But why?" the purple troll complained "I mean what if he doesn't want to be found?"

Grandma Rosiepuff turned to face her grandson "And why wouldn't he want to be found?" she asked.

"I dunno," he replied shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes "maybe because he told me so."

"I thought you said earlier that you had not seen him?" she questioned folding her arms across her chest.

"He told me not to say anything," Creek began lying as fake tears began to roll down his cheeks "and he said if I did he was going to hurt me."

Grandma Rosiepuff hugged her grandson "However we still need to find him."

"But why?" Creek asked in an annoyed tone.

"Because if we don't he could die out there," she explained.

"So," Creek mumbled under his breath.

"Now let's go," she said taking Creek's hand and pulling him along.

"Fine," Creek mumbled and rolled his eyes.

Branch slowly walked along the forest floor, his back was still very sore from being shoved into the rock by his cousin. A couple of tears ran down his cheeks as Creek's angered words replayed in his head…. "SHE'S MY GRANDMA…NOT YOURS!" He had no idea what has set Creek off or why the purple troll seemed to think that he was trying to steal his grandma away from him because that wasn't what he was doing at all. Branch just craved the warmth he felt when his mother and father would embrace him in a loving hug, now all he felt was unwelcomed and unloved. If only he hadn't been showing off how good of a singer he was to his parents than they would still be here. It all happened in a flash the creature seemed to come out of nowhere when it attacked, his parents did the best they could to distract it and keep it away from him.

"RUN BRANCH!" he remembered his mom yelling.

"We're right behind you!" his head his dad shout.

The next thing Branch remembered was stopping at the entrance to their pod completely out of breath there he waited for his parents to join him but they never did. When he turned back to go looking for them he was stopped by an older troll "It's too dangerous," he said taking a hold of Branch's shoulder.

"But my Mom and Dad are still in there!" he cried.

The older troll nodded to a few other trolls that were standing around "Go find them," He commanded. Branch watched the trolls rush into the forest to find his parents. When they returned they had a very sad look on their faces and Branch knew right away that something was not right. His parents were gone and he was going to see them again.

The young troll looked around for a place to sit down and saw a large mushroom, he let out a heavy sigh as he sat underneath it. Branch pulled his knees to his chest to help keep himself warm from the cold breeze that had started blowing. The longer he sat there the more he noticed the cooler air and he started shivering. But what choice did he have? He was unwanted by the trolls that were suppose to be taking care of him and every troll in school acted like he was poisonous. He watched as the sun disappeared behind the trees and the sky turned an orangish red color which meant that it would be dark soon.

The sound of leaves rustling quickly grabbed his attention and before he even had a chance to hide Grandma Rosiepuff emerged. Branch felt his heart start to beat fast with excitement then Creek stepped out behind her and his heart sank. "Branch there you are!" Rosiepuff exclaimed as she rushed over quickly wrapping her arms around the young troll and giving a tight hug.

Branch had to fight the urge to hug her back because judging by the look Creek was giving him it was not a good idea. "Why did you run off?" she asked lowering herself down to his level with a concerned look upon her face "We were so worried about you."

'We?' Branch thought, he highly doubted that Creek was even the slightest bit worried about him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered slowly standing up "I don't know why I ran away."

Her look softened as she took one of his hands into her own "Your hands are like ice," she said "let's go home."

Branch nodded before slowly getting to his feet, Grandma Rosiepuff gave him another gentle hug before they started heading back in the direction of her pod.

Back at her home Rosiepuff quickly began preparing some of her famous acorn chowder for dinner while the two young trolls sat by the fire place. Branch ignore Creek's jealous glares by just focusing all his attention on the fire as it flickered away. The warmth from it gave him some comfort as he closed his eyes. After dinner Grandma Rosiepuff read them a story before tucking them into bed for the night.

Aunt Hazel and Uncle Brier showed up just after breakfast "He wasn't too much trouble, was he?" Hazel asked flashing her eyes toward her nephew.

"No, not at all," Rosiepuff replied looking down at Branch and smiling "in fact he is more than welcome to come back anytime he wants to, my door is always open."

All Aunt Hazel did was smile and nod before saying "Well we should start heading back, thanks again for watching them."

"Anytime," Rosiepuff replied.

The four trolls started walking in the direction that would lead them back to their home and once they were out of sight Rosiepuff's pod Creek decided it was time to share. The purple troll suddenly started sobbing "What is it sweetie?" Hazel asked quickly giving her son a tight hug "Tell mommy."

"Branch spent the whole weekend trying to steal grandma from me and when I confronted him he got real nasty about it," the purple troll lied "he shoved me into a rock and then he bit me." Creek lifted his right arm up to reveal a bite mark on it.

"Why did you bite him?" Aunt Hazel asked grabbing a good amount of Branch's hair and pulling him as close to her a possible.

"I didn't bite him," Branch tried to explain "or shove him."

"So, your calling him a liar then?" she asked

Branch shook his head "No, I'm not calling him a liar but…."

Aunt Hazel cut him off by slapping him as hard as she could across his face her free hand "Now!" she hissed through gritted teeth "Apologize to him right now!"

"I'm sorry I shoved and bite you," Branch said as he turned toward Creek who looked like he wanted to laugh.

"Well I hope you enjoyed your breakfast," Aunt Hazel smirked "because it's going to be the last meal you eat for a while."


	7. Chapter 7

Branch lay on his back just staring up at the ceiling of his Aunt's pod, his head was killing him from the large lump that had developed over the last couple hours. The smell of whatever Aunt Hazel had made for dinner only reminded him of just how hungry he was, the only thing he had eaten that day was a single cupcake that someone shared with him. It had come as a total surprise to him when she offered him one of her cupcakes, it was lunch time and he went to go be alone when she appeared holding a cupcake and smiling. At first, he was reluctant to take it because he was afraid it was some sort of a trick.

"No thank you," he mumbled turning away from her.

"I know you're hungry," she replied sweetly "and I don't mind sharing."

Branch looked from her to the small cake "No, I'm not," he tried to lie but his stomach argued back loudly.

"Here," she said carefully placing it his hand when she stepped around in front of him.

Branch looked down at the cupcake and noticed it was pink just like her. "It's strawberry," she explained "and really tasty."

"Thank you," Branch whispered.

"I'm Poppy!" she said happily and extending her right hand out for him to shake.

"Branch," he replied as he slowly extended his own hand out.

Poppy's smile widened as she shook his hand "Nice to meet you."

"It's nice meeting you" he replied shyly as he sat down "and thank you again for the cupcake."

"You are very welcome," Poppy replied sweetly taking a seat across from him. "So how is it?" she asked gesturing toward the tiny cake.

Branch felt uncomfortable as he took a bite of the delectable cake. The taste was like heaven and the rich frosting only made it taste so much better. "It's delicious," he said between bites.

Poppy's big smile reappeared "I can bring you one everyday if you'd like?"

"Why would you do that?" he asked.

"Because," she explained leaning forward a bit "I see how the others act towards you and it's not nice at all."

Just as Branch was about to say something back someone called Poppy's name…."My friends are calling me," she said quickly getting to her feet "I'll talk to you later."

Branch watched her leave and he couldn't help but to smile slightly, she had been the first troll to be nice to him and he liked the feeling of it. The rest of the day flew by and soon it was time to go home, he walked along by himself. Creek had a play date with his friends that afternoon so that meant that he would be walking home alone. To his relief it was an easy walk until the pod came into view, he stopped wishing that he was anywhere but here. A part of him wanted to just keep walking but where would he go? He took in a deep breath and walked up to the pod, he slowly opened the door and entered.

The sound of his sobbing filled his ears, he knew right away it was his aunt that crying. "Aunt Hazel?" he asked as he made his way toward her sobs "Are you alright?" He found her sitting at the kitchen table looking at an old photo album. Without any hesitation the young troll wrapped his arms around her and embraced her in a hug. At first, she seemed to welcome it but in a flash her body tensed up and the next thing Branch knew he was being shoved away. The force caused him to lose balance and before he could stop himself he fell forward hitting his forehead on the counter.

"DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME!" Aunt Hazel hissed pulling him up into a standing position "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

"You were crying….so I…" He tried to explain as he used his hand to cover the rapidly growing lump that now was forming on his forehead.

"So, you thought that you would trick me into liking you?" Aunt Hazel interrupted now pulling her nephew along beside her until they reached Branch's sleeping nook.

Branch looked down at his makeshift bed "I'm sorry," he mumbled "I didn't mean to upset you."

"And to think that I was going to let you eat dinner with my family tonight," she replied with such disgust in her voice as she turned and left him standing alone in the room. Branch let out a sad sigh as he laid down on the floor staring up at the ceiling, all he did was try to comfort his aunt when she was upset and all he seemed to do was make her hate him even more.

No matter the many times Branch had fallen asleep with the burning hunger feeling in his stomach it never seemed to get any easier. Most nights he would toss and turn trying to ignore it, but it was next to impossible to do. Tonight, was one of those sleepless nights and Branch found himself sitting up hunched over with his arms wrapped around his tummy. He knew it would be breaking the rules to even think about sneaking some food to ease his hunger and he did not want to get in even more trouble than he already was in, so he chose to ignore it the best that he could.


	8. Chapter 8

"What happened to you?" Creek asked trying to hide his smile as he and one of his friends entered the room a few hours later.

"I don't want to talk about it," Branch mumbled turning away from them and facing the wall.

"Well, I heard it was because you tried to hug my mom." Creek chuckled "When are you going to learn that she doesn't even like you and she never wanted to here to begin with."

"I know," Branch said to himself as he let out a small sigh, the feeling of being unwanted and unloved was weighing heavily on him. He felt empty inside almost like he wasn't important anymore.

"I can't believe you were dumb enough to think she even wanted a hug from you," Creek and his friend laughed.

"Boys!" Aunt Hazel's voice called "Dinner time!"

"Come on Cliff," Creek said happily to his friend as he left the room "let's go."

"Right behind ya!" Cliff called as he followed closely behind leaving Branch all alone again.

The sound of their happy laughter and voices filled his ears as he lay there secretly wishing he could be part of their happiness. Instead he was forced to ignore his hunger which was making him feel very ill, he doubted his aunt would even care if he got sick from not eating. He slowly brought his hand up to his forehead to feel the large lump, there was a lot of heat in it and he winced from the pain of his touch. He knew now to never try and comfort his aunt when she was upset and crying because it would only upset her more.

Soon he was rejoined by the two laughing trolls "That was so yummy," Creek said as he entered the room glancing over to his cousin to if he would react in any way but to his disappointment Branch ignored him.

"Too bad he didn't get to have any," Cliff smirked.

"I did save him some," Creek replied snickering.

Before Branch even had a chance to react something sticky was being poured on to the side of his face and hair. He quickly sat up and faced the two trolls who were both rolling on the floor laughing. Branch could tell by the sweet taste that it was honey and he also knew that his aunt was not going to be happy when she found out and that she would find some way of blaming him for what had happened.

"What's so funny?" he heard her ask right before she appeared in the doorway.

He felt himself go numb when her eyes met his, he knew right away that he was in big trouble even before she said anything. He hung his head knowing that even if he tried to explain she wouldn't listen to anything he said. Creek and Cliff both stopped laughing and decided to watch instead. Aunt Hazel said nothing as she marched over to her young nephew and grabbed a hold of his ear, she then yanked him as hard as she could out of the room.

"Brier!" she hissed pulling him over to his relaxing uncle, "I'm done dealing with him today, it's your turn!"

Branch could feel himself starting to tremble too afraid to make any eye contact either one. "But Honey Muffin," Uncle Brier said calmly "how did he even get into the honey if he was upstairs?"

"Because he is a sneaky little monster!" she snarled "That thinks he can get away with everything!"

"Well what do you want me to do?" he uncle asked with a sigh.

"He needs to be taught a valuable lesson," Aunt Hazel explained as she tightened her grip on Branch's ear "one that he won't forget."

Brier reluctantly stood up and led the way towards the door to go outside, Aunt Hazel pulled her young nephew along beside her as she followed. She turned back to Creek and Cliff who were both peeking their heads out of the bedroom door trying to hide their smiles. "Mommy will be right back," she said sweetly "stay inside."

Outside the rain was coming hard "Go find a stick," Aunt Hazel said giving her nephew a cold icy stare and letting go of his ear. Branch looked up at her but did not move, he was confused by her request.

"STICK NOW!" she snapped causing him to jump but this time he did as he was told.

The young troll picked up the first stick he could find but his aunt was not pleased by this choice and sent him back to go get another. By the time he found what his aunt thought was the perfect stick he was completely soaked to the bone from the rain.

"Perfect," she said when he handed her the stick "now, turn around."

Branch gave her one last look before turning in the other direction, his first instinct was to run but he knew his punishment would be ten times worst if he did. So, he stayed still while she handed the stick over to Brier who lifted the stick up high just as a flash of lighting followed by a loud clap of thunder.

When Branch returned to the room he was quiet, he was glad that it had been raining only because his tears had blended together with the rain drops that ran down his face. He walked right over to his bedding too ashamed to even look over at his cousin he knew he was probably ready to laugh. Branch stopped at the edge of his makeshift bed and stared down at it. He could hear Creek and Cliff's giggling as he stood there wet and covered in mud, his back was in so much pain that he swore it was bleeding but instead of giving them the pleasure of finding something else to laugh at if he changed he slowly laid down on his bed in all his wet clothes.

"Hiding something?" Creek scoffed.

When Branch did not answer him Creek too upon himself to see what he was hiding "Don't touch me!" Branch snapped.

Creek glared at him before coolly replying "Want me to tell my mum that you hit me again and then you'll be in even bigger trouble?"

Knowing that Creek would do something like that Branch shook his head and letting Creek peek at the damage. Almost instantly both trolls broke into a laughing fit "That looks like it hurts," Cliff said in between his laughs.

Branch turned his face away from the two trolls and let out a heavy sigh, he knew it would be near impossible to try and sleep that night because of how sore his body was. He tried not think about what tomorrow had in store for him when all his other classmates saw all the new marks he had. He secretly hoped that he would get a visit from that little pink troll Poppy again because she had been so nice to him.


	9. Chapter 9

Branch silently walked with his head down to the ground behind his aunt as she led the three young trolls to school the next day. He had been so deep in thought that he failed to notice that his aunt had stopped in front of him he walked right into the back of her.

"Watch where you're going!" she hissed turning back towards him and raising her hand high above her head ready to strike. Branch cowered away not wanting to get hit by her this again, he was still very sore from the night before. His action made his cousin and friend snort with laughter "Such a weird one," he heard Creek say, "you're so lucky he's not related to you."

In class Branch did his best to ignore all the stares and the nasty remarks from the others thanks to Creek's fabricated stories about him. When it was play time Branch slowly made his way over to his spot and away from the others. He wanted to join them having fun, but he also knew they did not want him anywhere near them, so being alone was for the best. He took a seat on a tiny rock in the middle of the bush canopy and listened to the sound of their laughter wishing he could play games with them. The sound of rustling leaves quickly caught his attention and before he had a chance to react Poppy entered.

"Hi Branch," she said sweetly giving him a smile just as sweet.

Hi," he replied quietly.

"My friends and I were wondering if you wanted to join us?" she asked.

He looked at her for a minute before shyly replying "You…you want me to join you guys?"

She nodded "Yes, of course we do!"

Branch felt a tiny spark of happiness as he stood up from his spot and followed her out into the open. She gleefully led him past everyone else and towards her group of friends. "Guys, I asked Branch to join us today."

Her friends did not seem so thrilled to have the gloomy colored troll joining them "Maybe this was bad idea," he whispered slowly backing away not wanting to upset anyone.

"Branch wait," Poppy replied quickly taking a hold of his hand "we want you to stay, right guys?"

"Yeah," they hesitantly replied.

Poppy gave his hand a gentle squeeze before leading the way over to an open spot in between her friends. Once everyone was settled in their spots she introduced each one too Branch and then handed out snack sized muffins from her bag. Branch held the tiny muffin in the palm of hand and stared at it for a moment before taking a tiny bite. It took all power to not to devour the whole thing, he wanted to savor the taste for a while longer. Poppy's friends kept giving him a weird look because how he was eating but he did his best to ignore them.

"How did you get that?" one of Poppy's friends asked pointing to the large bruised lump on Branch's forehead.

"I…um…..fall," he lied hanging his head to avoid any eye contact.

"How did you fall?"

"I tripped," Branch replied just as a group of trolls walked up carrying a ball "Do you want join us in a quick game?" asked a troll who Branch recognized as one of the trolls that threw rocks at him on his first day of school.

"Sure!" Poppy exclaimed as she and her friends quickly jumped up ready to play.

"How about you?" the troll asked nodding his towards Branch who remained seated.

"Come on Branch," Poppy said giving him an encouraging smile.

Branch eyed the taller troll cautiously who just gave him a wide grin and a wink. Though he sensed that it was some sort of trick Branch slowly stood up hoping that he was wrong about it. The troll smiled as he and the others all gathered into a circle and began tossing the ball to each other. At first Branch thought that maybe he was wrong and was actually starting to have fun until the troll decided to instead of gently tossing the ball that he would use all his strength to throw the ball right at Branch.

BAM!

The ball hit Branch at full speed right in the face causing him to fall backwards, within seconds his nose was oozing with blood and when he sat up he was met with the sound of laughter. "Why did you do that?" Poppy asked placing her hands on her hips and marching up to the taller troll.

"Felt like it," he replied with a shrug "why do you even want to hang out with him anyway?"

"What's wrong with hanging out with him?" she asked.

"I wouldn't want to hang out with someone that is such a gloomy color," the troll explained "and besides what if he turned on you like he did his own parents?"

Poppy's friends all started whispering to each other and shaking their heads in agreement.

The troll smiled as he walked past Poppy and stopped in front of Branch "Why don't you get out of here?" he asked, "They don't want you around."

"That's not true!" Poppy snapped turning around and facing her friends "Right guys?"

"But what if he's right Poppy?" a big blue toll asked in a loud whisper

"No, he's not!" she quickly defended "He's just being a big bully."

Poppy did not understand why her friends were acting like this, Branch wasn't any different than anyone else. Then the taller troll pulled back his hand that was holding the ball tightly like he was going to strike the gray troll only to stop inches from his face.

"So then get out of here!" he growled using his other hand to shove the already sitting troll back.

Branch did as he was told and moved himself away from the others with his head down, he was afraid that if he looked at any of them he would upset them. He slowly walked back to the bushes he normally spent his time in and before entering them he did look back. His heart sank as he watched them all start playing together again. Back inside the bush he let out a heavy sigh trying his best to clean off the blood on his face with his overall strap.

The sound of rustling leaves from behind him immediately caught his attention, at first, he thought it was Poppy but when he turned around he was greeted with that same taller troll and few of his friends. Branch felt his heart begin to beat faster with fear, they were so much bigger and stronger than he was. He knew he should try and fight back but what would be the point? He could sense they wanted to hurt him, but why? He could see it in their eyes, it was the same look that his Aunt got when she punished him.

Before he even had a chance to do anything one of the trolls a grabbed ahold of his arms and held them back behind his back. Branch couldn't help but to tremble in fear to which they thought was so funny. Just as the ring leader stepped forward ready to strike Poppy came rushing in pulling Ms. Petal along.

"What's going on here?" Ms. Petal asked sternly

"He started it," the leader quickly lied giving Branch an ugly stare.

Ms. Petal wasn't buying it "You three come with me," she replied, "and Poppy take him to the doctor's office, so he can get his nose taken care of."

Poppy nodded before carefully taking a hold of his hand and leading the way. "Are you okay?" she asked sweetly "I saw them sneak off behind you and I knew I had to get help."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Branch asked stopping and looking down at the ground.

"Because we're friends," she replied giving a quick hug.

It may have been a quick hug but Branch noticed that she smelled very sweet like berries…."Friends?" he replied pulling himself out of the hug and turning away from her. "Are you sure you want to be my friend?"

"Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

Branch slowly shrugged his shoulders and whispered, "Because no one likes me."

Poppy gave him another sweet smile "Well I like you Branch."

His heart beat a little faster with excitement, he was glad she wanted to be his friend. The doctor took a good look at Branch's nose to make sure it wasn't broken which thankfully it wasn't. Branch even got to relax the rest of the day in the doctor's office even Poppy was allowed to stay. When it was time to leave and go home Branch and Poppy walked out together.

"See you tomorrow," Poppy said wrapping her arms around him and embracing him in a warm hug.

Branch slowly raised his arms up ready to hug her back but then he stopped himself when he saw his aunt glaring at him from a distance.

"Bye," he whispered before making his way over to his aunt and cousin.

"I see you made yourself a little friend?" she asked when he walked over.

He could tell by the look on her face that he was in trouble "And I also heard how you started a fight today."

Branch looked up at her "I never started any fight."

She rolled her eyes "You are such a little liar."

"I'm not lying!" he argued back even though he knew it was a bad idea and he would be punished for later.

"Very well," she said turning away from him with Creek "I will deal with you when we get home."

"But I didn't do anything wrong," he tried to explain but she just ignored him.

"You are not allowed to be friends with her!" she snapped.

"Why?" Branch quickly asked

"Because you don't deserve to have any friends," she explained through gritted teeth "in fact I want you to push her away, do you understand me?"

Branch opened his mouth to protest but before he even had a chance she had stopped and slapped him across the face with the back of her hand. "I said, do you understand me?" she hissed.

Fighting back tears Branch slowly nodded his head "Good," she replied before continuing to walk home.


	10. Chapter 10

Branch sat staring at his reflection for the longest time, fresh bruises now covering him from stomach to his back. The pain he was in was unbearable but still nothing hurt as much as when he had been nasty towards Poppy and making her cry.

 **-Flashback-**

"Hi Branch!" Poppy greeted with such excitement in her voice and a wide smile on her face as she joined him the day on the playground.

"Go away," he replied taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes, he was too ashamed to look at her.

"What…why?" she asked as her smile began to fade "What's wrong?"

"I want you to leave me alone!" he whispered.

"Branch, what's going on?" she asked taking a few steps towards him and placing her hand on his shoulder "You can tell me, we're friends remember."

"Don't touch me!" he shouted pushing her back hard and causing her to stumble to the ground. "I don't want to be friends with you, not now…not ever, so stay away!"

Poppy's eyes filled up with tears which made Branch feel even worst. 'Please don't cry.' He said in his head "I can't believe my friends were right about you," she whispered slowly getting to her feet and leaving without even looking back.

"Poppy wait," he replied following her out, but she ignored him as she rushed back to her friends. "I'm sorry," he whispered lowering his head feeling awful knowing that he caused her to cry but when he turned to go back into the bushes he was stopped by that same taller troll from the day before.

"You know you got us in a lot of trouble yesterday," the troll sneered as he grabbed hold of Branch's overall strap before shoving him towards his two friends. "So, now I think it's time to teach you a very valuable lesson," he said with a wide grin and leading the way out of the play area and into the nearby forest.

A part of Branch was hoping that one of his fellow classmates would stop them, but no one seemed to care what was happening. He knew that Creek had spread so many lies about him and that none of them even liked him, however it still hurt knowing that none of them cared enough to get help. Branch's heart sank when a handful of troll came into view and they were chanting "Fight!Fight!Fight!"

"What if he goes all crazy on us Archer?" one troll asked, "Creek said that he does get violent."

"We won't give him chance to get that way," Archer explained stopping suddenly and turning around to face his Branch "now hold his arms tight."

Branch felt their grip on his arms tighten and before he could react Archer had already brought back his fist letting it slam hard into his stomach. This caught Branch completely off guard and he fell forward out of breath. The young troll stared at the ground trying to catch his breath and wondering why if they didn't like him then why didn't they just leave him alone?

"Why don't you fight back?" Archer asked as he hovered over the smaller troll.

"I don't want to fight you," he replied in whisper knowing that was not the answer that Archer wanted to hear.

Archer just shrugged his shoulders "Suit yourself."

The two trolls pulled Branch back to his feet only to have Archer knock him right back down with another swift punch, this went on like this for several painful minutes. Soon Archer and the others grew bored because no matter what Branch still refused to fight back, so with one last hard kick to the side they decided they were done and left leaving the beaten troll all alone and in a lot of pain.

Once Branch knew for sure they were gone he slowly picked himself up off the ground and made his way over to the nearby stream to look at his reflection.

 **-End of flashback-**

Branch continued to sit in that spot knowing he did not want to go back to school or go home, he wanted to just disappear away from everyone.

When Branch did not return to class Poppy was the only one that seemed to notice and at lunch when she mentioned it to her friends but they just to shrug it off. "He is probably too ashamed to show his face after hurting you and making you cry."

"I just don't understand, yesterday he seemed to like the idea of us friends," she replied

"Who my cousin?" Creek asked causally walking over and joining Poppy and her friends "Yeah, all he kept saying at home was how annoying you are."

"He said I was annoying?"

Creek nodded "But I told him that he was wrong about you and you were just trying to be nice."

"Yeah but…" Poppy started to say something but Creek cut her off "He can be very violent at times, I mean he's attacked me numerous times," he explained "Cliff will tell you how he tried to hurt me just the other night."

"See Poppy, maybe it's best that he's not your friend," her big blue friend replied placing a comforting hand on shoulder.

"I guess," Poppy sighed still confused as why each time she had interacted with Branch he seemed shy more than anything else. The rest of lunch Poppy and the others listened to everything Creek was saying about his cousin. When it was time to get back to class Poppy decided she was going to go confront Branch herself even if it was probably a bad idea. So, when everyone else had rushed back to class she found a place to hide until it was all clear. Once she alone she quietly made her way out into the nearby forest.

"I don't even know where to start looking," she said aloud as she walked along the forest floor "or even if he's out here."

Something small caught her eye and she went to investigate it, as she got closer she noticed it was a button from a piece of clothing. Poppy picked it up and carefully examined it, she recognized it as one of the buttons from Branch's overalls.

"Branch!" she called out "I know you're out here somewhere!"

When the sound of her voice met Branch's ears he quickly sat up straight and looked around for a place to hide. Even before he had a chance to escape she spotted him with his back towards her.

"Ah ha!" she exclaimed marching over "I want to know why you said I am annoying when I was just trying to be nice to you."

"Please go away," he replied hanging his head.

"No, I will not go away!" she huffed "I want to know why you don't want to be friends."

"I just don't," he lied staring down at the water.

"Why not!" she demanded placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

Branch chose to ignore her thinking that she would just go away and leave him alone. "You have to have a reason for not wanting to be friends."

"You don't deserve to have any friends!" Aunt Hazel's words kept replaying over and over in his head.

"PLEASE, CAN'T YOU JUST GO AWAY!" he shouted as he fought back tears and turned towards her showing the large bruise that had appeared on the side of his face from one Archer's punches.

Poppy let out a tiny gasp "Branch what happened?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied shaking his head "I deserved it right? I mean that's what everyone always says but I don't know why?"

A part of Poppy wanted run up and hug him but what if he did not like and attacked her instead just like Creek said he would? "I know that I am not as bright and colorful as everyone else but why hurt me because of it?" he continued "as for being your friend….I just can't, okay?"

"Branch you don't deserve to be hurt like this," she replied slowly taking a few steps forward.

"How do you know?" he asked, "You don't even know me."

"You're right," she sighed "I don't know you, but I want to and you don't want me to."

Branch lowered his head again and said bitterly "You don't understand…..I never wanted or want to be friends with you," before he hurried past leaving her standing there all alone. From a distance Branch watched her slowly walk back toward the school with her head down and looking rather upset. Now that he was alone again the young troll began to sing to quietly himself….

 ** _Everywhere I turn, I hurt someone  
But there's nothing I can say to change  
the things I've done  
Of all the things I hid from you  
I cannot hide the shame  
And I pray someone, something will come  
to take away the pain_**

 ** _There's no way out of this dark place  
No hope, no future  
I know I can't be free  
But I can't see another way  
I can't face another day…._**

Branch continued to sing as he walked in the direction of his Aunt's Pod…..

 ** _Tell me where, did I go wrong  
Everyone I loved, they're all gone  
I'd do everything differently  
but I can't turn back the time  
There's no shelter from the storm  
inside of me_**

 ** _There's no way out of this dark place  
No hope, no future  
I know I can't be free  
But I can't see another way  
I can't face another day….._**

He stopped just outside of the pod too afraid to enter….. "What happened to you?" Creek asked as he and Aunt Hazel came walking up and noticing the large mark on Branch's face.

It came as no surprise to Branch when he was sent directly to his corner in the room to think about what he had done. When Aunt Hazel discovered nephew was hiding his other bruises she got so happy. "You deserved every single one of those right?" she said slightly smiling and admiring the several dark large marks that covered his belly and sides.

"I know," he whispered flinching a bit when she applied a bit of pressure on his darkest bruise.

"Did that hurt?" she asked applying more pressure.

"Yes," he replied trying his best to hide the pain in his voice.

She seemed satisfied with his answer "Good," she replied bitterly "you deserve it after all the pain you have caused me."

That night Branch had a terrible time trying to sleep because no matter which way he turned his bruised body would not get comfortable on the hard ground. He prayed this would be the only time Archer and his friends would do this but unfortunately it wasn't. Each time it happened it just got worst and worst…..


	11. Chapter 11

**Here is the next chapter, sorry it was a little shorter. Thank you for your reviews and sorry for any typos.**

After his rough night of trying to sleep Branch got up the next morning feeling very stiff and sore, he looked at himself in the mirror and saw how dark his face bruise had gotten over night. It was now a deep dark purple color and tender to the touch. The young troll held his breath as he uncovered his belly and side which was completely covered with large painful bruises. Archer and his friends had punch and kicked the smaller troll repeatedly all because he had refused to fight back.

"Move!" Creek hissed giving elbowing Branch hard right in his hurt side and smirking when saw him react the way he did from the pain it had caused. Branch knew Creek wanted him to snap, so he would get in trouble with his aunt but instead of snapping he turned away. Creek frowned when Branch did not react the way he wanted him to.

"My mom is so happy this happened to you," Creek smirked "in fact she said I could invite Archer over anytime I wanted."

"Good for you," Branch mumbled as he slowly got dressed for school.

"I bet you thought that someone was going to help you?" Creek laughed.

"I knew no one was going to help me," Branch replied feeling hurt by his own words.

"How does it feel to be the most hated and unwanted troll?"

"Completely alone," Branch whispered to himself.

At school Branch tried to avoid as much eye contact with everyone as he could but it didn't stop them from pointing and some even laughing at the giant bruise on the side of his face. "He's even uglier then before," he heard some troll say.

"Nice Bruise" Archer said with a wide grin as he cut the young troll off "Do you want another one to match it on the other side of your face?"

"No," Branch replied slowly backing away.

Archer glared at him but before he had any chance of attacking the smaller troll he noticed that Ms. Petal was on her way over. "Until next time," he mumbled as he turned to walk away.

In class Branch couldn't help but to keep glancing over at Poppy who was sitting three rows in the front and to the side of him. He felt terrible for snapping at her the day before and wished with all his heart that he could be her friend, but Aunt Hazel had already made it very clear that he did not deserve to have friends because of what he did. One of Poppy's friends caught him staring at her and whispered something in the pink troll's ear, when Poppy turned back Branch quickly looked away.

"Why do think he's looking at you?" Suki whispered

"I don't know," Poppy replied

"I'll tell you why," Creek quickly added "it's because he doesn't like you."

"Well maybe he's just misunderstood?" Poppy questioned "I know he told me never wanted to be my friend but what if he was lying?"

Creek rolled his eyes "Poppy believe me….he wasn't lying."

"I just feel so bad for him," she sighed glancing back at him and noticing just how bad his bruising was on the side of his face.

"Trust me Poppy he would hurt you in a second," Creek lied giving his cousin hard stare.

"You're probably right," she said with a sigh still wishing she knew the reason for Branch's actions. Poppy took one last look back at the gray troll before turning back to her art work that she had been working on.

Poppy tried a few more times to become Branch's friend and invite him to a couple of parties but he would refuse and quickly destroy the invitation. Her friends tried to tell her that she was just wasting her time and that he wasn't worth it. In fact, it was one of these invitations that got him in trouble with his aunt, she was furious when she found it.

"I thought I told you not to be friends with that girl!" she snapped giving her nephew a hard shove in the table.

"I'm not," Branch quickly replied.

His answer only angered her "Then why did she give you this?" she snapped holding up the glittery card.

"I don't know!" he snapped back.

"Stay away from her!" she growled reaching to her right for something to strike with.

Creek watched from the door as his mom left her mark on Branch at least a dozen times before letting up.

"I wish you were the one that perished and not my brother," Aunt Hazel whispered.

Though she had said many times before it still hurt every time… "I know," Branch replied hanging his head "I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"Get out of my sight!" she said hissed.

The young troll did as he was told but before leaving the room he stopped and looked back at her. "I don't hate you Aunt Hazel even though you hate me."


	12. Chapter 12

"What did you say?" Aunt Hazel hissed as she grabbed a hold of Branch's arm and squeezing it tightly. Branch could tell she was even more upset by what he said, he saw her hate and anger in her eyes. "Do you honestly think that by saying that I would start to feel bad for you?"

"No," he whispered looking down at the ground wishing that he had not said anything at all.

"You are nothing more than a burden to myself and my family!" she snapped "Now get out of here!"

The young troll quickly rushed back to the room but before he could even get past the door Creek stepped in his way with a huge smile plastered on his face. "She got you good this time, huh?" he asked with a smirk.

Branch refused to answer him and instead shoved past him, so he could get back to his corner of the room. "I don't know why Poppy keeps inviting you to her parties?" Creek said sighing heavily and walking back to his comfortable bed. "I mean it's not like you fit in with the rest of us," he continued "besides no one even wants you there anyway."

Ignoring him Branch slowly lowered himself onto his blanket "Do you want to know what everyone says about you behind your back?" Creek asked.

"I don't care what they say about me because of things you told them!" Branch shot back.

"What I've told them?" Creek scoffed "All I've ever told them was the truth about you."

Branch rolled his eyes "The truth? You mean like how always seem to attack you?"

"You do!" snapped Creek

"No, I don't!" Branch snapped back

Creek switched his conversation back "They all say how much they like seeing you marked up, they think it's funny."

"I know they do" Branch mumbled as he carefully turned over trying not to aggravate the tender spots that he had just received from Aunt Hazel's 'punishing stick'. Though in pain it did not take Branch long to fall asleep and before he knew it morning had arrived which meant that he had to face his fellow classmates with his new marks. The walk to school was silent as he slowly trailed behind his aunt and cousin with head down looking at the ground. Once at school Branch noticed that the others were giving him weird stares, and some were even whispering and laughing to each other as he walked by. He ignored them thinking that they were probably just talking about his newest marks. It wasn't until lunch time that he found out what everyone was whispering about, Archer and his gang had planned something special for him.

"Hey Buddy," a voice said that Branch knew right away, he looked up and saw Archer and friends surrounding him.

Branch wanted to get up and leave but for some reason he couldn't move, "Grab him!" the bully ordered. Once Branch was his feet he just followed without fighting back, if this is what everyone wanted then what was the point of even resisting? Like before they led him out of the play area and into the woods only this time Poppy spotted them.

When Archer decided that they were far enough in the woods he turned back to his friends he signaled them to attack with a quick head nod. One troll wrapped his hair around Branch's right ankle and yanked it back fast causing the younger troll to fall, with Branch down on the ground the other troll wasted no time before he began kicking him in his left side. Soon they were each on one side kicking and punching the helpless troll. Branch could feel himself becoming weaker and weaker "Hold his arms down," he heard Archer say before the bully's fist slammed hard into the side of his face. Archer brought his fist back up and letting it slam back down on to the front of Branch's face. After that punch everything seemed to be spinning and the last thing he saw before everything went dark was a flash of pink…


	13. Chapter 13

Archer was already raising his fist in the air again when Poppy used her hair to stop him "STOP IT!" she cried pulling his arm back "Leave him alone!"

"We're just messing around with our pal," Archer replied yanking his arm out of Poppy's grip.

"You're not messing around," she pointed out "you're hurting him."

"Look," Archer sighed slowly walking over to Poppy "why don't you just turn yourself around and head back to school and pretend that you didn't see anything."

"NO!" she snapped "I'm not going anywhere!"

Poppy stood her ground and did not back down to the bully, she then placed herself between Branch and Archer. "I'm not going to let you hurt him anymore."

Archer glanced over to his two friends before shrugging "Whatever," he said turning from the young pink troll and walking way with his friends close behind "it was getting boring anyway."

Once they were out of sight Poppy quickly turned back towards the injured gray troll "Oh, Branch!" she gasped kneeling down beside him and gently placing her hand onto his. "Please wake up," she whispered giving his hand a soft squeeze. Branch slowly began to wake up "Poppy?" he asked in a slightly shaky voice "why are you here?"

"When I saw Archer and his friends leading you into the woods I knew something bad was going to happen." She explained.

The young gray troll carefully touched his left hand to his face and felt stickiness from his bleeding nose and lip. He then forced himself to sit up which was very painful from being kicked in his sides so many times. A small whimper escaped his lips before he could even stop himself "You can leave now," he half whispered before turning his head away from her.

"Branch," she said calmly moving closer to him "I'm not going to leave you like this."

"Why?" he asked closing his eyes wishing she would just leave.

"Because even though you don't want to be my friend I still want to be yours," she explained.

"It's not that I don't want to be your friend," he replied, "I'm not allowed."

Poppy softly placed her right hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch slightly from her touch "How come you're not allowed?"

Branch used the back of his left hand to wipe away some of the blood from his face "Because of what I did," he replied, "I don't deserve to have friends."

"Everyone deserves to have friends," she replied taking a seat next to him "no matter what anyone says."

They both sat in complete silence for a minute before Poppy stood back up offering her hand for him to take. At first Branch hesitated but slowly and placed his right hand into hers, Poppy helped the injured troll to his feet.

"We need to get you to Doctor Plum's pod," she explained.

Branch quickly refused "No, that's not a good idea."

"Branch you could be seriously hurt,"

Sharp pains from Branch's sides made it difficult to even stand up yet he forced himself to walk. Poppy could see it was bothering him, so she offered to help him keep balance as they walked towards the village. As much as Branch protested going to see Dr. Plum in the end Poppy somehow won the battle.

Poppy sat in the waiting area of the pod looking down at her hands, she couldn't get the image of his bruised side and back out of her head. She was already leaving the room when Dr. Plum had asked Branch where he felt pain and when she told him to show her, but something made her turn around for a brief second. Dark marks completely covered the one side that she saw, and they were all over his back. Though she knew none of the other trolls liked Branch which she witnessed first hand when they just ignored Archer and his friends as they led him away to do what they had done to him or how they whispered and laughed about him behind his back when he came to class sporting a new mark. Once she asked Creek about the marks to which the purple troll explained how Branch did it to himself to try and make everyone think that he was the victim.

"Take care of yourself," she heard Dr. Plum tell Branch as he slowly walked towards her, it may have been her imagination but for a brief second she swore he gave her a small smile.

"You can leave now," he mumbled turning his face away from her direction.

"I want to make sure you get home safely," she replied.

Branch could only imagine what kind of trouble he would get into if Aunt Hazel saw him with her, he already was going to be in trouble for coming home late. "You can't!" he snapped "I mean I don't want you too."

"Well that's too bad," Poppy huffed placing her hands on her hips "because I'm going with you."

"Please you don't understand," he begged still avoiding eye contact with her.

"What don't I understand?" she asked, "You can tell me."

"I can't," he sighed.

Poppy relaxed her arms and walked over taking his hand into hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. Branch looked down at their hands, he felt a spark and warmth. This new feeling was unlike anything he had every felt before and to be honest he kind of liked it. He knew the risk, yet he caved in and let her walk with him, she had this certain glow about her that he found very fascinating. As they walked along Branch couldn't help but to steal a couple of quick side glances at her, she was wearing the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

"What kind of songs do you like to sing?" she asked.

"I don't sing," he replied remembering how it was because of his singing that had his parents were no longer with him.

"But all trolls love to sing," Poppy replied, "maybe you just haven't found the right song."

"Look, I just don't sing!" he snapped.

Poppy then started humming as they continued walking, it wasn't long before her humming turned into singing.

Sometimes you think you'll be fine by yourself  
'Cause a dream is a wish you make all alone  
Its easy to feel like you don't need help  
But it's harder to walk on your own

You'll change  
Inside  
When you  
Realize

The world comes to life  
And everything's bright  
From beginning to end  
When you have a friend

By your side  
That helps you to find  
The beauty of all  
When you'll open your heart and

Believe in  
The gift of a friend…..

She continued to hold his hand as she sang…..

Someone who knows when your lost and your scared  
There through the highs and the lows  
Someone you can count on, someone who cares  
Besides you where ever you go…..

You'll change inside  
When you Realize  
The world comes to life

And everything's bright  
From beginning to end  
When you have a friend  
By your side

That helps you to find  
The beauty…

That helps you to find  
The beauty of all  
When you'll open your heart and  
Believe in  
The gift of a friend….

And when your hope crashes down  
Shattering to the ground  
You'll, you'll feel all alone

When you don't know which way to go  
And there's no signs leading you home  
You're not alone…

Branch suddenly stopped when his Aunt's pod came into view and she was standing right in the doorway looking right at him. "Are you okay?" she asked in sweet caring voice as she rushed over towards them "What happened?"

"A group of bullies attacked him during lunch," Poppy replied.

"Is that so?" she asked trying to hide her smile and reaching out and giving Branch a pretend hug "How about you invite your friend in so you both can have some cookies?"

"I would love some," Poppy replied with a smile.

Inside Aunt Hazel kept up her loving and caring act until it was time for Poppy to leave. "My birthday is in few weeks and I would love for you to come Branch."

"Oh, he'll be there," Aunt Hazel quickly replied before Branch even had a chance to say anything.

"Great!" Poppy exclaimed before giving Branch a gentle hug "I see you in school."

Once Poppy was gone Aunt Hazel turned her attention towards her nephew "I hope they got you good this time," she said shoving his side hit the edge of the table and applying a bit of pressure "oh and that party she invited you to, she is going to see what a big mistake."

"I mean why dos she even want to have you as a friend anyway?" she asked pushing a little harder.

"I don't know," Branch replied trying to hold back his tears from the pain.

"She is going to wish she never invited you to her party if I have anything to say about it," she said finally releasing her nephew and walking away.

Branch held his tears back until he was out of her sight and then as much as he tried to hold them back he failed which only made his sides hurt more.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Sorry it took so long to update but here is the next chapter! Hope it makes up for waiting.**_

Branch sat in his corner of the room trying his best not to think about how much pain he was in, which was pointless because with every breath he took in came a sharp pain. When Creek returned with his friend Cliff they immediately could tell that Branch had been crying just from the tear stains on his cheeks.

"I can't believe you're crying," Creek scoffed "you're such a baby."

Cliff smiled beside Creek "Yeah, an ugly baby."

"Speaking of which," Creek added as he walked over "I know for a fact that Archer did not just mark up that ugly face of yours."

Cliff smirked "So show us!"

At first Branch wanted to ignore them but then he knew that Aunt Hazel was waiting for him to refuse so she could punish him even more. Branch took in a painful breath and decided it was best abide by his cousin's demands. The young troll slowly uncovered his sides, belly and most of his chest. Both Creek and Cliff fell to the ground laughing at the sight of just how marked up he really was…. Their laughter filled his ears as he quickly covered his marks back up and turned away from them.

When Creek noticed this, he got right up and marched over then without any warning he shoved Branch in his right side so hard that it sent waves of pain up and down his side. Branch held his yelp of pain because he knew that Creek wanted to cry out. "Why would Poppy even invited someone as ugly as you to her party?" Creek asked, "I mean you are nothing but a colorless weirdo!"

Branch knew it was best not to answer back but this only seemed to anger cousin more and he received yet another hard shove to his side this time knocking Branch into the wall. Still Branch refused to react to his cousin's actions. Creek squeezed his hands into fists wanting so much to punch him even though he hadn't done anything at all. "I hate you!" he spat.

"I know," Branch whispered back.

As Creek turned around to head back towards his own side of the room when his foot got twisted up in Branch's blanked and he fell face forward right into the ground. The moment the purple troll hit the ground he started crying.

"Creek are you okay?" Cliff asked rushing to his friend's side and helping him to his feet.

Branch closed his eyes knowing that his aunt was soon be there and that he was going to punish him for what happened for sure.

"What happened?" her voice rang as she rushed through the doorway and right over to Creek who had resulted in crying fake tears. "He shoved me," he lied knowing very well that his foot had gotten tangled in the blanket.

Aunt Hazel glared down at her nephew before relaxing her gaze "Creek honey," she said calmly "your cousin did not shove you."

"Yes, he did!" Creek snapped

She then walked over unwrapped the twisted blanket off his foot "You just tripped over his stupid blanket."

"But…" Creek started to say.

"Would you and Cliff join me downstairs?" she replied, "I must discuss something with the both of you."

Creek and Cliff followed her out of the room leaving Branch alone and now confused once again.

010110101010101010110101010101010101010

Poppy's party was just a few hours away and Branch was putting the finishing touches on the flower hair-clip he had made for her. He stared down at the small purple flower as it lay in his grey colorless hand and he couldn't help but to hear Creek's words replay in his head "You're such a colorless weirdo." He knew none of others were thrilled that she had invited him to her party and some even refused to even show up because he was going to be there.

"Poppy you are making a big mistake inviting him," he heard one of her friends say.

"It's my party and I can invite whoever I want!" she quickly retorted.

Branch then gently placed the flower in a small box and carefully wrapped it. Once Branch arrived at the party his plan was to just sit in one spot all night because he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, however this did not go according to plan.

"Hi Branch!" Poppy exclaimed rushing over to throw her arms around him.

Creek who was standing behind Poppy made an ugly face and just shook his head.

"Come dance with me," she said letting him out of the hug but quickly taking his hand into hers.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," he said downlow noticing everyone's disapproving stares.

"Well how about a game instead?" she asked leading him over to the game area.

"I'm not going to play if he's going to play," some female troll remarked out loud before getting up and walking away.

"Yeah, me either," another troll added before quickly following her to the other side of the room.

Poppy opened her mouth to say something but before she could one of her friends pulled her away to dance to what they called "her jam". This left Branch alone in the sea of disapproving trolls that wanted nothing to do with him whatsoever. He slowly made his way past them to find a nice quiet place to sit and to be as far away from the others as possible. From his spot he watched Poppy dance with her friends, he wished so much that he could dance along with her. Instead he scolded himself for secretly wanting to join in, he could still feel some of the other troll's eyes glaring at him as he tried to imagine himself dancing.

"Hey Buddy." Cliff greeted taking a seat right next to Branch "I can't believe you even bothered to show up when clearly nobody wants you here. Even Poppy doesn't really want you here, she only invited you because felt like she had to not because she wanted to."

Branch started to stand up, but Cliff used his hair to grab hold of his wrist

"What's wrong…..don't like to hear the truth?" he smirked.

"Let go!" Branch hissed trying to free himself from Cliff's hair.

"Why should I?" Cliff laughed tightening the grip on Branch's wrist "Why don't you show everyone who you really are."

Then without warning Cliff gave Branch a hard shove right into the giant birthday cake at the exact moment Poppy was passing by it. Branch tried his best to stop the cake by grabbing a hold of it but failed as it toppled right over and landed on top of her.

"Poppy!" her friends gasped as they rushed to her side, they quickly helped her up.

"He pushed it!" Cliff shouted as he pointed at Branch "I saw him with my own two eyes."

"See Poppy," one of her friends whispered out loud, "we told you not invite him."

Poppy gave Branch a sad look and holding her left arm close to her body like it was hurt "Branch what happened? Why did you do that?"

"Because he clearly wanted to hurt you," Creek said folding his arms across his chest.

Branch opened his mouth to try and explain what had happened but stopped when he noticed that every single troll at the party was staring at him with fire in their eyes. He knew that even if he told her the truth they would say that he probably lying and that he had it on purpose.

"So why don't you just get out of here?" a tall orange troll asked, "You don't even belong here."

The room full of trolls all started to nod and agree "They're right," Poppy whispered as she turned away from him "I want you to just leave, I should never have invited you to my party in the first place."

Branch wanted to just reach out to her but instead he held himself back and backed away. The crowd cheered as he reached the exit which only made the young feel worst, he looked back one time to see his cousin comforting a now crying Poppy and Cliff looking very proud of himself. Outside Branch lowered his head and walked in no particular direction, he just wanted to get as far away as possible. Branch walked until he came to a stream where he took a seat on small rock and pulled out the tiny flower hair clip he had made for Poppy's birthday. He stared at it for awhile before a flash of anger came over him and he tossed it right into the stream. She was never going to forgive him for something that wasn't even his fault to begin with, her friends would make sure of that. The hurt look she gave him when she thought that he was the one who ruined her party and caused her to get injured was all he saw when he closed his eyes.

"Well look who's here," Archer's voice said coming up behind and sending chills down Branch's spine. He knew they were going to hurt him, yet the young troll had no desire to get away. Besides even if he wanted to run Archer's gang had already surrounded him and were now waiting for their leader's command. "Rope him," Archer said coldly as something wrapped tightly around Branch's neck and pulled him backwards off the rock…..then once he hit the ground using the rope to tie his arms back so he could not block.

0101010101010101010101010101010101010101001

The young troll lay in the middle of the forest too injured and weak to even move, it seemed like every encounter with Archer and his gang got worst and worst. All the marks and bruises that had just faded were now returning. Branch knew he could not stay there but he didn't have the strength to even get up. Archer had made sure ever time he had tried to get up one of his gang members would knock him back down with a quick shove then a hard kick to his side, back or belly…sometimes all three at once. The laughter still ringing in his ears when they saw him trying to get up, how his arms were shaking as they tried to support his own weight...

Branch finally got to his feet and slowly started walking without realizing which was he was going until he stopped in front of a somewhat familiar pod. Creek's words replayed in his head as he stared at the door "She's my Grandma not yours!"

He slowly reached out and knocked on the door…

Rosiepuff had just settled down in front of the fire when she heard the tiny knock "Who could that be?" she asked herself as she got up and walked towards the door. She was shocked when she saw Branch standing there completely covered in so many cuts and bruises that were only getting darker by the second.

"Sweetheart what happened?" she asked bending down to his level.

Branch then did something he hadn't done in a long time, he wrapped his arms around her. She returned the hug before helping him inside where she began cleaning him up and was saddened to see that every inch of him from his back to this belly was covered in large bruises.

"Who did this to you?" she asked trying her best to hold back tears "Why?"

"They hate me," he whispered staring down at the ground too ashamed to even look her eyes, "and I don't know why."

Rosiepuff felt her heart sink as she gently embraced the smaller troll in another warm hug that he so desperately wanted. "Don't worry sweetheart, you're safe here."

Branch closed his eyes as he hugged her back...


	15. Chapter 15

For the first time in a long time Branch had slept all snuggled up under the covers of a nice comfortable bed and was not going to be punished for it. The warmth and the softness of the blankets made it very easy for him to fall asleep, he felt himself just relax completely the moment he laid down onto the soft bed.

Roisepuff smiled down at the smaller troll before taking a seat beside him on the bed "Sweetie, I just want you to know that I am always here for you."

Branch looked up at her smiled…"You should smile more," she said before softly singing….

 ** _It's like a storm  
That cuts a path  
It's breaks your will  
It feels like that_**

 ** _You think you're lost  
But your not lost on your own  
You're not alone_**

 ** _I will stand by you  
I will help you through  
When you've done all you can do  
If you can't cope  
I will dry your eyes  
I will fight your fight  
I will hold you tight  
And I won't let go_**

 ** _It hurts my heart  
To see you cry  
I know it's dark  
This part of life  
Oh it finds us all (finds us all)  
And we're too small  
To stop the rain  
Oh but when it rains_**

 ** _I will stand by you  
I will help you through  
When you've done all you can do  
And you can't cope  
I will dry your eyes  
I will fight your fight  
I will hold you tight  
And I won't let you fall_**

 ** _Don't be afraid to fall  
I'm right here to catch you  
I won't let you down  
It won't… _**

**_Don't be afraid to fall  
I'm right here to catch you  
I won't let you down  
It won't get you down  
You're gonna make it  
Yeah, I know you can make it_**

 ** _'Cause I will stand by you  
I will help you through  
When you've done all you can do  
And you can't cope  
And I will dry your eyes  
I will fight your fight  
I will hold you tight  
And I won't let go  
Oh I'm gonna hold you  
And I won't let go  
Won't let you go  
No I won't_**

"Goodnight Sweetheart," Rosiepuff whispered before gently kissing him on his forehead.

"Goodnight," he whispered back.

When Branch opened his eyes it was morning, as soon as he got out of bed he did his best to make it up. He then made his way into the dining area where he was greeted with nice breakfast. The young troll stopped in he doorway and stared at the food on the table, he had got so use to being told "No" all the time that he was afraid he get in trouble if he took any.

Rosiepuff noticed this "I hope you like pancakes," she said sweetly "I made them just for you."

A tiny smile appeared on his face as sat down and started to eat, Branch had only gotten a few bites in when there was a knock on the door. Rosiepuff excused herself as she went to go see who was at the door.

"Have you seen him?" Branch heard Aunt Hazel's voice demand.

"Who Branch?" Rosiepuff asked "He's in the dining room eating some breakfast, why?"

Branch slowly slid off the chair and walked out of the dining area to where his aunt and Rosiepuff were standing. "There you are!" Aunt Hazel hissed as she rushed forward and yanked her nephew towards her.

"What are you doing?" Rosiepuff asked watching in horror as Hazel shoved the young troll out the door. "You're going to hurt him!" she tried to explain knowing that Branch had several large bruises across his back.

"So, what!" Aunt Hazel snapped raising her hand just as Branch turned back to look at her.

"Don't you dare!" Rosiepuff shouted grabbing Hazel's hand and stopping her from slapping the young troll.

"Stay out of this!" Aunt Hazel snapped back "He is bad troll that broke a little girl's wrist last night when he shoved a large cake over on her, bet he didn't tell you that did he?"

"Well no," Rosiepuff sighed "but he still doesn't deserve to be treated like that, a young troll needs to feel loved."

Aunt Hazel scoffed "Then he should have thought about that before he killed his parents."

"Punishing him for something that wasn't even his fault isn't going to make things better," Rosiepuff tried to explain but Hazel just shook her head "I forbid you to come anywhere near him."

"What?" Rosiepuff questioned "You are being …."

"He isn't your concern," Aunt Hazel said coldly cutting Rosiepuff off and glaring down at Branch "Walk!" she hissed."

Branch knew he was going to be punished just by the way she was looking at him, she looked as if she wanted to tear him apart. His head was telling him to just run but he couldn't get his legs to move. Every second that he stood there Aunt Hazel was growing angrier. "Now move!" Aunt Hazel growled making sure to give Branch an extra hard push causing him to lose his balance and fall forward sending a wave a pain over him.

"Branch, just keep your head up!" Rosiepuff called watching Hazel yank him along beside her "It will all get better someday, you'll see!"

Aunt Hazel pulled Branch so hard that it felt like she was trying to rip his arm right out of the socket, once they were alone in the forest Hazel stopped and shoved her nephew away from her again. Branch was afraid to even look back at her, he hung his head and turned back towards her only to have something cold and hard slam him right on the right side of his face. His hand shot up to the side of his face just in time to feel the crimson liquid slowly oozing from the small gash caused be the rock Aunt Hazel was holding.

"Look at you," she said coldly taking a few steps towards him "all covered in cuts and bruises. I am so glad that you are miserable because you deserve to be."

"Who do you think you are?" she continued as she hovered over him "Running off just to get someone to feel sorry for when you caused all this yourself. Creek told me how you pushed that cake over on poor Poppy and how she hates you for it."

Branch felt his heart sink, he knew Poppy was upset for what she thought happened with cake, but he never thought she would hate him. Aunt Hazel smiled noticing her handy work to the side of his face, nothing made her happier then to see Branch in pain and judging by how dark his mark where she could tell that he was in a lot pain.

The walk home was painful because every other step he would take he received at least two lashes across his back with a decent size stick. By the time they arrived home Branch swore his back was bleeding from how many times Aunt Hazel had used the stick. The young troll went right to his corner of the room where he was greeted with a nasty surprise, his blanket was gone.

"Hope you're not looking for your blanket," Creek laughed "because it's gone."

Branch turned back to the purple troll with his hands balled into tight fists "Where is it?" he hissed.

"We got rid of it," he replied coolly "burned it right up."

This sudden rush anger flashed over the young gray troll, but he chose to ignore it instead. His mother had made him that blanket when he was younger to help him to relax, sometimes he swore that he could still smell her perfume sent on it, but it was all gone.


	16. Chapter 16

Branch felt awful when he saw Poppy with her arm all wrapped in a cast because of him. He wanted to apologize and try to explain what had happened but whenever he thought he worked up enough courage to try and talk to her he would either panic at the last second, or he would receive a nasty glare from her friends (mostly Creek). One day on his way home from school he wasn't paying any attention just staring down at the ground knowing that if he even dared to looked up he would make eye contact with some troll and they would be offended by it…. As he hurried along the path he walked right into her and her hurt arm.

Poppy let out a small whimper of pain as she held her arm close….."I'm sorr…. He started to say when he realized he had bumped her arm but was quickly cut off before he got the rest of the words out of his mouth.

"Hey, you did that on purpose!" a nearby troll snapped shoving the gray troll out of the way as they rushed over to Poppy.

"I'm sure it was an accident," Poppy replied watching as Branch slowly began backing away.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Poppy," Creek calmly said as he walked over "You see my cousin has a way of making things look like they are an accident when he really did them on purpose."

"No, I don't!" Branch quickly defended.

"You're such a liar," Creek smirked and rolling his eyes "You know very well you hurt Poppy on purpose because you can't stand the way you look."

Branch opened his mouth to say something else, but Creek gave him the (I'll make sure you get in so much trouble with my mom when you get home) look. "So, why'd you do it huh Branch?" Creek asked using his index finger to harshly poke his cousin the chest several times "Why'd you hurt her?"

"Because," Branch slowly replied knowing full well that if he did not lie Creek was going to make sure his punishment would be hell with his aunt and right now she was busy making sure that none of his bruises healed. When ever one would start to fade away she would come along and darken it right back up. "I felt like it," the young troll replied as he lowered his head feeling ashamed that he would lie about hurting her on purpose.

"See I told you," Creek said proudly knowing that he had gotten Branch to go along with his lie.

"But why?" Poppy asked giving Branch a hurt look.

Branch turned his face away from her gaze, he could not stand seeing her bright pinks eyes filling up with tears because of him. "Does it matter?" Creek asked shrugging his shoulders "He just admitted he that hurt you on purpose."

"I just want to know why," the young pink troll explained not taking her eyes off Branch "I've always been so nice to you Branch."

Branch slowly looked up at her, he opened his mouth to say something but again Creek cut him off "You honestly think that matters to him?" he asked rolling his eyes, "You're talking about the troll responsible for the death of his parents."

Poppy shook her head "Well I think he's lying."

"I'm not lying!" Branch snapped when he noticed his cousin starting to become very angry "I did it on purpose because wanted to hurt you and make you cry."

"But…?" Poppy started to say but Branch quickly cut off "IT'S BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE YOU OKAY!….NOW JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Branch then quickly pushed past the crowd of trolls that had gathered around them….. "Ew, gross it touched me!" A female troll shouted as he rushed by. Once he was alone he slowed down his pace to a walk, he felt terrible yelling at her like that when she and Grandma Rosiepuff were the only two trolls that were ever nice to him. "I'm sorry Poppy," he whispered to himself as he walked home.

"You look miserable," Aunt Hazel commented when he walked through the door, when he did not answer she just smiled and replied "good."

Branch made his way over to his spot in the room sat down pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them. He let out a long sigh before closing his eyes, this helped the young troll to relax. Branch tried his hardest to not be bothered by things he heard the others say about him, but it was hard. He knew everyone hated him and he knew that nothing he did would ever change that.

There wasn't a day that went by that he would hear one of the trolls say something about him to one their friends, not once did they use his real name but instead they always referred to him as either the ugly weirdo or the freak. In fact, when he had returned to school a few days after the party sporting his badly marked up face and bruised neck all they did was laugh and make fun of him.

"At least he has some color now," one troll immediately pointed out.

"That's true," the troll's friend agreed giggling "but he's still the ugliest troll here."

The young troll stared down at his hands and the ugly greyish tone they were, he wondered what it be like if he had never lost his color in the first place. Would the others want to be his friend, or would they still treat him the same because of what happened to his parents? Aunt Hazel quietly stepped into the room, she glared down at the distracted troll as she made her way over to him with her trusty stick in her one hand. Then for no reason other than to be mean she smacked it her right across the side of his face. Branch's first reaction was to cup his now stinging cheek and to look up which turned out to be a bad idea. Aunt Hazel had added a new rule recently and that was not to look or make any sort of eye contact with her.

"What did I say about looking at me?" she hissed bringing the stick back up and slapping the other side of his face with it.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to," he mumbled as he quickly looked away from her.

"I see you were looking at your ugly coloring," she said as she lowered her stick back down "I bet you were wishing you looked like everyone else, huh?"

Branch knew it was best not answer her but just to sit in silence. "Then you should never have done what you did," she replied as a small smile appeared in the corner of her lips "you know why I'm here don't you?"

The young troll nodded knowing exactly why she was there, it was time for her to re-darken his bruises back up and most likely add a few more. "What are you waiting for?" she hissed grabbing a hold of his ear and pulling him to his feet.

Branch closed his eyes as Aunt Hazel lifted her stick up high above him, it did not matter how prepared he thought he was the intense stinging from the stick would always hurt just as much as it did the last half a dozen times he was punished. It did not matter how much she hurt him he could never hate her even though he knew she hated him, he still loved her.

Aunt Hazel stopped and stood back to admire her work normally this would be the time when she would leave but not today, she towered over her young nephew before shoving him as hard as she could to the floor and then using her stick to smack down hard on the top of his head. Branch made the mistake of bring his hands up to cover the spot that she had just hit because she brought it back down again onto the top of his left hand. The young troll quickly pulled his hand away, he was not going to be able to bend it for a while because of how hard she had hit it.

Finally, happy with her work she turned to leave with a wide grin on her face "Until next time," she said happily.


	17. Chapter 17

Poppy sat at the table just staring down at her food, she just could not get the way Branch acted out of her head. One second, he looked like he wanted to apologize and the next he was yelling at her, telling her he had hurt her on purpose. She really did not want to believe what he said but he was giving her no choice. Then there was the way that everyone talked about him or made fun of him, she wondered how they could say such awful things about him behind his back or sometimes right to his face. She knew the things they said hurt him and she wished they would stop.

"Poppy?" her dad's voice asked pulling her out of her train of thought "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied finally taking a small bite of her food.

"Are you sure?" he asked giving her a concerned look.

Poppy stayed silent for a minute before deciding to explain "You know the troll that knocked the cake over on me?"

Her dad nodded "What about him."

"One second he looks like he wants apologize and the next he is yelling and snapping at me, telling me he hurt me on purpose." She explained.

Peppy sat back in his chair "I see," he said, "I'm sure he really doesn't mean what he is saying, he has been so much for such a young troll."

Poppy sighed "But he doesn't have to be so mean about it."

"Just continue to be nice to him and give him some space then maybe someday he will come around," Peppy explained.

"You're right," she agreed.

Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Poppy saw Branch the next day at school, she couldn't help but notice he looked slightly different, from where she was standing it looked like he had newer marks on him and the top of his one hand so dark. The others did seem to care as they shoved past him then without warning one of Archer's friends decided it would be funny knock the wind of him by punching him hard in the stomach. She watched as no troll stopped to help or at the very least ask if he was okay, instead they just simply ignored him by going around. Poppy knew she was risking a chance to be snapped at again by him, but she just did not care, the young troll walked over and held out her good hand for him to take.

Branch flinched away when he saw movement coming towards him, he was bracing himself for another attack. The moment he saw her bright pink hand reaching out for him to take, he looked up at her wondering why she wanted to help him after he had yelled at her the day before.

Poppy felt a rush of sadness come over when she noticed he had several new marks on both of his arms and most of his face that had not been there yesterday. "It's okay," she said softly giving him a tiny smile. Branch slowly placed his hand into hers letting her know that he trusted her, Poppy's smile grew as she helped him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Branch just nodded before hanging his head embarrassed by how marked up his face was "What happened?" she asked.

"I can't tell you," Branch whispered.

"Did Archer and his friends do that to you?" she asked, "It's not right that do this you."

"No, I did it to myself," he whispered turning away from her gaze.

Poppy shook her head "Branch I don't think you did this to yourself. I mean why would you?"

Branch stayed silent as Poppy carefully placed her good hand on his shoulder as she moved closer to him, her heart sank when she saw just how many marks he had on his skin. It looked as if someone had really enjoyed hurting him.

"Oh Branch," she whispered fighting back a few tears that stung her eyes, how could anyone want to hurt someone like that?

A part of Branch wanted to tell her everything, but he was afraid of would happen if he did. "Poppy I'm sorry I ruined your party," he said shyly "and yelled at you."

Poppy gave a sweet smile "I forgive you," she said before giving him a one-armed soft hug.

For a moment Branch felt a small smile appear on his lips as he welcomed her hug, just as he was about to bring his arms up to hug her back, he stopped. Although he knew she would not reject his hug he knew her friends would disapprove because to them he was freaky colorless troll that had hurt her. When she was this close to him, he noticed that her hair smelled sweet, almost like berries or cupcakes or even the perfect blend together.

"Branch you deserve to be treated better," Poppy whispered as she slowly pulled away.

"No," Branch replied trying to hide the pain in his voice "I deserve every single mark and more for what I did."

Poppy looked at him "No Branch, you don't."

The young troll brought his hand up to the large painful bump on his head "Yes I do," he whispered closing his eyes knowing that in a few days when his bruises started to fade his aunt would be right there waiting to re-darken them and add a few new ones to him. Poppy was only seeing a small fraction of his marks because the rest were hidden under his clothes, the darkest of his bruises covered both of his sides and back. They were not only extremely dark bruises but a few of them Aunt Hazel had actually made bleed from hitting him so hard many times in the same spot with her stick that it broke skin.

"Come on," Poppy said taking his hand into hers and gently pulling him away from school.

"But….?" He started to say putting on his breaks stopping her in her tracks."

"Branch come on," she said giving him such a sweet smile that he could not refuse and making his cheeks grow hot.

"Where are we going?" he asked as the two of them walked along the forest floor together, a couple time he couldn't help but to steal a few side glances at the pretty troll. Walking this close to her he could count every one of the glitter freckles on the one cheek.

"It's a secret," she replied giving him another smile.

Branch couldn't help but to smile back at her feeling his face heat up again. "WE'RE HERE!" she exclaimed stopping in front of a large colorful tree with a wide trunk.

"A tree?" he questioned

Poppy shook her head finally letting go of his hand and walking over to the trunk of the tree. "Not just any tree Silly, a secret club house tree."

Branch watched as she ran her hands along the trunk of the massive tree until she found what she was searching for….a door. Inside the tree was hallow and well lit thanks to a few holes far above their heads.

"Well?" she asked, "What do you think?"

"No one knows about this place accept for me and now you," she continued when Branch did answer.

"So, your friends don't know about this place?" Branch asked.

Poppy shook her head, "Nope, sometimes I just come to get some me time but now I want to share it with you.


	18. Chapter 18

Branch started his morning off like he did so many mornings since coming to live with aunt by looking at his reflection in the mirror, his reflection had changed so much in the past few months. He hardly recognized himself anymore, he had lost weight and his body was always covered in many marks to remind him of all the little things that he had done wrong and now he was sporting a bandaged-up arm. The young troll did not know how much more he could take, being hated by mostly everyone hurt more than any cut or bruise he received combine. For a moment he thought that they had changed and finally accepted him, but he found out in the end that it was all just a rotten trick. It was right after Poppy had shown him her secret clubhouse when they started acting nice towards him and inviting him to play games with them.

"You want to play catch the squish ball?" one troll asked giving him a kind friendly smile.

Branch looked at the troll not knowing if he should trust him or not but against his better judgement he nodded, feeling a spark of excitement to finally be included in one of their games the young troll quickly got up and followed the troll towards the others playing their game. The group of trolls welcomed him to the game with some even apologizing for making fun of him in the past. It felt so good to finally be a part of a game. From the side lines Creek had a look of total surprise on his face when he saw Branch playing with the group.

"I can't believe you trolls," he said as he shook his head and walked away.

The group of trolls just ignored him and went back to their game of throwing the squish ball to each other. They continued to invite Branch to play with them during lunch for the next few days and it wasn't until the last break of the day when they showed their true intentions. The game was going great until the troll that tossed the ball to Branch "accidently" tossed it too fast and the ball rolled down the hill into a nearby bush.

"I'll get it," Branch said not thinking about it as he turned to go after the ball.

The closer Branch got to the bush more his mind began to race "What if it's a trick?" he asked himself before shaking that thought out of his head. Branch took one last look back at the group of waiting trolls who had decided to join him at the bottom of the hill, turning back to the bush holding his breath as he reached for the ball. With a quick grab he managed to get the ball but just as he was about to bring it out of the bushes someone yanked it back. In a panic Branch tried to pull his arm away but whoever had a hold of him had a very tight grip and was not letting go.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice asked from within the bush.

Branch knew right away it was Archer and that he was going to hurt him just by the look in his eyes, he watched in horror as the taller troll emerged from inside the bush along with his bully friends.

"Don't worry we're not going to hurt you," he smirked "much."

Archer's right-hand troll was the one that was holding onto Branch's arm "Ask them for help? He said as he turned the young troll to face the group of trolls he had been playing with.

Before Branch even opened his mouth to ask the troll that had invited him to play with them shook his head "Why would we help someone like you?"

That answer only confirmed what Branch had already known deep down but refused to believe, that it was all an awful trick and that he was going to pay for believing it. Everything happened so fast one second Branch was being shoved to the ground and the next his mouth was covered while Archer's right-hand troll took Branch's arm and snapped it back until they heard a loud (CRACK!)

Then came their laughter as tears began to flow down his cheek no matter how hard he tried to stop them from coming. He felt so sick from all the pain he was in from his arm that he curled himself into a ball. The bell rang in the distance and everyone left leaving the sobbing troll alone…

"Where is he?" Aunt Hazel asked Creek when Branch failed to show up home after school "That ungrateful little brat knows he's supposed to come right here after school."

Creek just shrugged his shoulders "I dunno," he said "the last time I saw him was at our last break at school.

Aunt Hazel could feel herself becoming very upset as she marched towards the door, her nephew seemed to like pushing her buttons "He's going to get punished so hard for breaking my rules!" she snarled.

"Can I come with you?" Creek asked happily wanting to see his cousin be punished.

"No!" she hissed "You stay here!"

Creek frowned but decided it would was wiser to obey his mother instead of arguing with her. Aunt Hazel grabbed her stick and walked out of the door and towards the school. It did not take her long to find her nephew, he was walking slowly with his head down holding his right arm close to his body.

When Branch looked up his aunt, she could see that his face was bleeding. Archer's right-hand troll had decided to go back and cause more damage to an already broken troll by giving him a long deep cut on the side of his face from his ear to almost his chin. He stared at her afraid to move knowing that she was angry with him but then she did something she had never done before, she lowered her stick. As she made her way over to him. She could tell by just the way he held his arm that it was most likely broken then she dropped her stick before gently wrapping her arms around him.


	19. Chapter 19

Aunt Hazel had decided much to Creek's objections to let Branch sleep in the extra bed until his arm healed. While sleeping in a soft warm bed was nice for change it however did not stop Branch from reliving his ordeal through his nightmares. The young troll could still hear the snapping sound over and over in his head followed by their laughter drowning out his whimpers of pain. Then when the taller troll returned holding something sharp in his hand as he walked towards him…..Branch quickly opened his eyes as he slowly brought his left hand up to his face and touched the bandage. He then used his good arm to help himself to sit up in bed where he looked down at the thick cast on his right arm, he swallowed hard knowing that he was going to have to face them and what they had done was out of the hate they felt toward him.

"I can't believe you were dumb enough to even think that anyone wanted to be your friend," Creek said sitting up in his own bed trying to hide his smile.

"I just thought that they finally changed their minds," Branch mumbled down low before letting out a heavy sigh.

Creek rolled his eyes "Please," he said through a chuckle and an eye roll "no one will EVER like you."

When Branch did not answer him, Creek decided to say more hurtful things "You have always been a reject troll just like your mother."

"Take that back!" Branch snapped "My mother was not a reject."

"No," Creek quickly replied with a large grin knowing that he had struck a nerve.

"Yes!" Branch hissed feeling himself becoming angry.

"I don't have to," Creek mocked "because do you know how much trouble you will get in if you ever attacked me? My mum hates you even if she is being nice to you right now for some reason."

There was nothing more entertaining to Creek than to see how upset he could make his cousin "My mum hates you so much and do you want to know why? It's because you look more like your stupid mum then like my Uncle Birch."

Branch sat in silence now trying to block out Creek's words, but it did not seem to be working "They should have smashed your ugly face in instead of just cutting it."

After a while Creek grew bored when Branch refused to reply so he gave up and just turned over and fell asleep leaving Branch to process all the nasty things that was said all night. The next morning Branch was not looking forward to going to school and seeing his fellow classmates that tricked him pretending that they wanted to be his friend. He also knew would receive more laughter because of his appearance by everyone else, they really had no idea how much that their laughter hurt him. As soon as his school came into view Branch stopped hanging his head because he was ashamed of what everyone was going to say about him.

"Hi Branch!" Poppy's sweet voice chimed from behind him. She had not been at school the other day when it happened because she was home sick. Before he even had a chance to get away, she appeared in front of him. "What happened?" she asked as her smile quickly faded into a concerned look when she saw the large bandage on his face and his arm wrapped in a cast.

"And don't you dare say you deserved it," she quickly added "who did this to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Branch whispered.

Poppy slowly brought her hand up to the side of his face feeling sadness come over her when he flinched away from her touch, she did not want to believe that it had been done on purpose, but she could tell by the we he acted and the look on his face that it had been.

"I'm sorry," Branch mumbled slowly backing away.

"For what?" she asked giving him a confused look.

"For ruining your party," he whispered as he continued to back away "and for hurting you."

Poppy opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when Branch was shoved away from her "Hey!" she snapped turning to face Archer and his friends "Why did you do that for?"

"Felt like it," he said with a smirk on his face before turning his full attention on the smaller troll "Want Buck to snap your other arm?" he asked motioning for the taller troll to come forward.

Poppy quickly stepped in front of her friend "You leave him alone!" she warned.

"Why do you want to protect someone like that?" Archer spat "He's a unpredictable troll that can't be trusted, I mean he's already attacked you once."

"I don't care," Poppy replied glaring at the group of bullies "I'm not going to let you hurt him."

"Poppy, you don't have to do this," Branch told her, but Poppy stood her ground. "No Branch," she said, "you don't deserve to be bullied."

"Whatever," Archer said giving his friends a quick head nod for them to move her out of the way.

"Let go of me!" she hissed as she fought back to try and free herself.

Branch felt a sudden urge to be brave "Let go of her!" he snapped not wanting anything to happen to her because of him.

"Buck you know what to do," Archer said turning to the taller troll.

"I sure do," Buck said cracking his knuckles as he approached the smaller gray troll "and I'm really going to enjoy do it too."

"Archer don't do this!" Poppy pleaded but the bully paid no attention to as her as he led the way until they were out of sight.

"You want to know what's funny?" the troll that was still holding onto Poppy asked, "It seems like you're the only one that cares what even happens to that troll."

Poppy thought about what he said, and it was true the others couldn't care less what happened to Branch which was sad because Branch had not once ever done anything to any of them. Her heart broke knowing that they did what they did because they knew no one was going to stop and help Branch. She knew deep down that they were the reason he had a broken arm and a bandaged-up face. Using some quick-thinking Poppy slammed her foot down onto of the troll that was holding onto her to which he quickly let go and she made her escape. By the time she arrived in the clearing Archer and his friends already had Branch on the ground and Buck with his hand balled into a fist ready to strike.

"Stop trying to cover your face!" the taller troll hissed as he used his other hand to hold Branch's good arm down and away from his face before slamming it right into the bandaged side of the young troll's face.

"STOP IT!" Poppy snapped but he just ignored her and punched the poor troll a few more times. As Buck brought his fist back again a loud screech echoed in the forest.

The world around Branch was spinning but moment he heard that sound his blood went cold because it had been the same sound, he had heard right after his parents told him to run.

"Let's get out of here," Archer said signaling for his friends to follow him as he fled.

Buck however stayed behind glaring down at the young grey troll before bringing his fist down onto his face.

Another blood curdling screech sounded but this time it was much closer. Buck used that as his que to get the heck out of there, leaving both Poppy and Branch alone in the clearing. Branch knew he had to get out of there fast, but his spinning head was making him dizzy as he slowly tried sitting up. Once he was up right Poppy rushed to his side and helped as he struggled to get to his feet. Poppy scanned the area for a safe place to hide before spotting a hollowed-out tree trunk.

"Come on Branch," she said as she took his hand into hers and led him towards the tree. Within seconds of being safely inside the creature appeared, it was cat like in appearance with bright red and blue fur, razor sharp fangs and long claws.

"Branch, what is that thing?" Poppy whispered as she peeked out of a tiny hole in the trunk.

"I'm not really sure," he replied holding his head back to try and stop the blood that was flowing out of his nose.

Poppy's heart sank when she looked back at the young troll, his face had a lot of blood on it not just from his nose but also from a split on his lip and his bandaged-up cheek. She slowly walked over and sat down beside him. She looked down at a single pocket on her dress then without thinking twice she tore it off and gently brought it up to his lip. She did not like what they did to him, it wasn't right to attack someone the way that they did. If only they took the chance to get to know him like she was trying to do they might see that he really wasn't that different. Sure, Creek had told everyone about how violent he was, but she was starting to wonder if it was even true because not once had she seen him fight back when he was being attacked. Poppy did not want to believe that Creek would ever make something like that up because she like him.

A loud noise coming from just outside of the tree told them that the creature was right outside.

"I'm scared," she whispered bringing her body next to Branch's and gently laying her head on his shoulder.

Branch looked over at her and said "Me, too."

The two trolls were forced to stay put for hours because the creature could smell them inside and refused to leave.


	20. Chapter 20

Poppy had not seen Branch since the day the creature had trapped them inside the tree for hours and whenever she asked Creek about his cousin, he would just tell her that Branch was not feeling well or just shrug his shoulders and change the subject to something else.

"I made him a card," she said smiling as she held out a glitter decorated card with a large 'GET WELL' printed on the front "I would like to give it him myself if that's possible?"

Creek looked from her to the card before putting out the biggest fake smile and replying "I don't think that's such a good idea right now Poppy, I mean he's not exactly well enough to see anyone. I could give it him for you if you'd like?" He was really getting tired of her always asking about his stupid cousin, why did she even care about him anyway?

"Well I guess that would be okay," she replied looking down at the card before handing it over to him and asking "what's wrong with him anyway?"

"Spots, he's covered in large ugly purple spots, probably got it from the creature" Creek quickly lied knowing full well why his cousin was not in school and it had nothing to do with the beast that chased them. "and he's got a really high fever."

"But how's is that possible?" Poppy quickly pointed out as she thought back to when the creature chased them into the tree, it had never once made any contact with either of them. "We made it to the tree before it even got us."

Creek just shrugged his shoulders wishing she would just drop the subject and move on "Well then I don't know."

"Oh," she sighed "well hopefully the card helps him to feel better."

"I'm sure it will," he replied carefully placing the card in his hair.

Poppy smiled as she waved goodbye "I'll see you tomorrow."

Creek waited until she was out of sight before he brought the card back out and stared down at it, a flash of anger came over the purple troll as he began tearing it apart. Once it was in tiny pieces he bent down and quickly gathered them up. On his way home he couldn't help but to smirk remembering how his mother was no longer being nice to Branch and that it had only lasted a couple days, but the moment she saw him disobeying her by hanging out with Poppy again made her just as angry if not angrier than she was before.

"I told you to stay away from her!" she had snapped when she saw them together "You do not deserve to have friends!"

When Branch tried to explain that they had been chased inside the tree by the same creature that got his parents Aunt Hazel refused to listen because the way she saw it was that they had been together before said creature had appeared in the first place. "You're such a liar!" she spat yanking the smaller troll towards her by his hurt arm "I was nice to you and this is how you repay me? You turn around and disobey me just like that!"

"I didn't mean to," Branch replied "I'm sorr…." but before he could finish Aunt Hazel had already slapped him hard across the face causing the cut to reopen it up again. Creek wanted to stay and see what happened next, but his mother sent him to his room. About a half hour later Branch joined Creek in the room, but no words were spoken as he walked over the corner where he carefully sat himself down and brought his knees to his chest where he sat in silence. From his spot Creek saw several new marks already forming and he couldn't help but to smile slightly knowing that his mother was back to normal by being mean to Branch.

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The young gray troll sat staring down at the ground for the longest time before bringing his left hand up to his nose every once in while to wipe away the blood that slowly flowing from it. Although he really did not see the point anymore, he had had so many nose bleeds these past two weeks that he had lost count. Large bruises covered both sides of his face because Aunt Hazel figured why not have it matching on both sides? Although he had known that his aunt was not going to be nice to him forever, he just wished it lasted longer than a couple of days. He let out a slow heavy sigh just as Creek walked in "Here!" the purple troll snapped dumping the pile of ripped up tiny pieces of paper all over Branch's lap "Poppy made you a card."

Branch stared down at the tiny pieces of paper for a few seconds before picking up a tiny chunk of glitter covered paper "Yeah I kind of ripped it up," Creek said with wide grin "sorry." As Branch stared down at the piece of paper in his hand, he felt a bit of anger and sadness come over him. Creek had purposely destroyed something that Poppy had made him.

Creek glared down at Branch "You should see how ugly your face is now," he smirked.

Branch did not answer him because he already knew it was how bad it was, and he was ashamed of the way he looked. Deep down the young troll wished he could just run as far away as he could, yet he did not have enough strength or energy to do so. "You should be glad that I ripped that card up," Creek explained "because it said some really horrible things in it."

"I don't believe you," Branch finally whispered shaking his head.

Creek smiled slightly "Oh really? Poppy wanted to tell you that everyone is so much happier without you around and how she had hoped that you would just stay away."

"She never said that," Branch replied knowing full well that Creek was lying, and that Poppy would never say anything like that.

"Yes, she did!" Creek argued "She's only nice to your face, she laughed when she found out what happened to your arm and how you were dumb enough to believe someone wanted to be your friend."

Branch shook his head "That's not true and you know it."

"Oh, but it is," Creek said as wide grin formed on his lips "I mean come on, do you really think that she wants to be friends with someone as gray and ugly as you?"

"STOP!" Branch snapped "Nobody likes me because of all the lies you told them about me and you're the reason they always make fun of me and hurt me."

Then without warning Creek started wailing loudly as if he

had been hurt, Branch knew that he was going to get into trouble for something he did not even do…

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"How's Branch?" Poppy asked Creek the moment she saw the purple troll the next morning "Did he like my card."

"Oh Poppy," Creek sighed "I don't really want to tell you this be he completely destroyed your card before he even read it."

"He did?" she asked feeling her heart sink in her chest, she had put a lot of work and thought into making that card for him and he just destroyed it.

Creek nodded "I'm so sorry Poppy," he said gently patting the pink troll on the shoulder "he ripped it right up."

"It's not your fault Creek," she replied giving him a small smile.

"Some trolls are just toxic," Creek added.

"Yeah, I guess," she sighed before they joined their friends and headed to class together.

Meanwhile back at his Aunt's pod Branch once again found himself staring at his reflection in the mirror, several cuts and bruises marked up the young troll's body and now he was sporting a brand-new mark around his neck.

"Branch attacked me," Creek began sobbing the moment his mother entered the room and even though her son did not have one mark on him. Aunt Hazel quickly used her hair to tighten around Branch's neck before he even had a chance to say anything, he tried to keep it from going any tighter with his one hand but that was proving to be difficult to do. It seemed like the more he tried to stop it the tighter it got until he gave up. Just when he was about to black out, she let go and he was allowed to breath again.

Branch shook the awful memory from his head as he carefully wrapped a piece material around his neck like a scarf before very quietly making his way downstairs and out the door before his aunt noticed. The young troll walked until he came to the edge of a rock over looking a stream, he stared down at fast moving water and knew that no one would care if he just jumped. Branch took a deep breath and closed his eyes….

"Jump!" his head screamed...

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After school that day Poppy decided to tell a little white lie to friends by telling them that she was just going home but in reality, she was going to spend time in her 'Secret Club House'. When she arrived at the giant tree she looked around to make sure no one had followed her before she entered, once inside she was greeted with a big surprise.

"Branch?" she asked when she saw him standing in the middle just staring down at the ground "What's wrong?"

"Poppy, can you keep a secret?" he whispered still staring down at the ground.

"Of course," she replied starting to feel a little worried.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone," he begged.

"Branch you can tell me anything," she replied taking a few steps towards him "I promise."

The young troll slowly brought his face up and carefully removed the scarf from around his neck to reveal the dark mark along with every mark that covered him from his chest to belly and his back. Branch did something he never thought he would do, he broke down and told her everything….


	21. Chapter 21

Branch lowered his head again, he was afraid of what her reaction was going to be after telling her everything. Was she going to laugh and make fun of him like Creek said she did behind his back or was she going to be understanding? There was silence between the two of them for what seemed like an eternity until Poppy stepped towards him and gently wrapped her arms around him and embracing him in a tender hug.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," she whispered as she placed her head against the side of his face causing their cheeks to touch. Branch slowly began to relax in her hug and was about to bring his good arm up to hug back but he stopped himself. "She doesn't want you hug her!" his mind scolded "Besides what if she's tricking you?"

"You must have been so scared," she added slowly releasing him from her hug and taking a few steps back to look at the marked-up troll. She already felt sad, but her heart sank more when she noticed how dark and fresh some of the marks were. It must have been so awful to be treated the way he was treated and then to trick by the others into thinking that they wanted you to be their friend only to hurt you in the worst way possible by snapping your arm back until it broke.

"Please don't tell anyone I'm here." Branch whispered starting to feel uncomfortable from her stares.

"I won't," she replied "I promise."

"I would be in so much trouble if my aunt knew I was here," he said turning away from her thinking about what Aunt Hazel would do to him. He slowly brought his hand up to his neck remembering how tight her hair had wrapped around it and how he wasn't able to breath.

"Why does she treat you like that?" Poppy asked.

Branch shook his head "It's because of what I did." he was talking about his parents because of how many times Creek had told everyone that Branch had killed his parents and that he was out to get everyone else which was why none of the other trolls liked him. According to Creek Branch was short tempered, crazy and always making up stories to get others to feel sorry for him. In fact, how did she even know he was telling the truth right now and not just out to hurt her? "No!" her head screamed "Branch is not lying."

Silence again fell upon the two trolls before Poppy spoke up "I'm going to run back to get some supplies from my pod and bring them back here."

"Supplies?" Branch questioned turning back towards her.

Poppy nodded "Yeah, you need blankets, snacks and stuff."

Before Branch could say anything the pink troll was already gone "You can trust her," he told himself as he settled down to await her arrival.

Poppy hurried back to her pod with only one thing on her mind, grab as many supplies as she could and take them right back to Branch, her pod came into view and that's when Creek stepped out in front of her sporting what looked to be a bruised eye.

"Oh my gosh Creek!" she gasped "What happened to you?"

"My cousin attacked me," the purple troll said with a heavy sigh.

"Branch did that?" she asked pointing to the large mark on his face.

"Yes," Creek lied "right before he ran off."

"Why would he do something like that?" she asked remembering what Branch had told her earlier about Creek and how he would make up stories to get him into trouble, but she had known Creek since they were young, and he never lied to her before.

"My mom says it's because he is a very unstable troll and snaps just like that," he explained.

"Well I haven't seen him if that's why you're here," she said knowing that Branch trusted her not to say anything about what she he told her.

Creek shook his head "No, I'm here to warn my **_FRIENDS_** about my deranged cousin that ran off."

"Oh okay," Poppy replied giving Creek a sweet smile "I got to get going, my dad is waiting for me."

"Alright," Creek said letting out another heavy sigh "but if you do see him tell him that my mom said she loves and forgives him and wishes he would come home."

"I'll let you know if I see him," Poppy said as she watched Creek leave, once she was sure he was gone she proceeded to do what had set out to do before she ran into the purple troll. She quickly grabbed a bag and stuffed it full of things that she thought Branch would like before heading back to her "Secret Club House." When she returned, she found Branch sitting on the other side of the room in deep thought. She wondered what he was thinking about and debated if she should tell him about Creek or not.

"I hope you don't mind pink," she said as she pulled out a couple of brightly colored blankets and pillows.

"It's fine," he whispered, "thank you."

Poppy smiled "I brought you a couple muffins and a few other snacks for now."

"I really appreciate this," he replied giving her a tiny half smile.

"You should smile more," she pointed out "it looks good on you."

When Branch realized what his face was doing, he quickly turned away from her, his aunt would have slapped it back off his face because according to her he was not worthy enough to smile.

"Can I ask you something?" Poppy asked as she carefully placed the bag of snacks down on the ground "Did you attack Creek?"

"What?" he questioned turning back to face her "Why would you ask something like that?"

"I ran into him on my way back to my pod to get this stuff and he had a large bruise on his eye that he said from you," she explained "that you attacked him and that is why you ran away."

"Do you believe him?" he asked.

Poppy was silent for a few seconds "It's just that I have known Creek since we were young, and he's never lied to me before."

"So, you think I'm the one that is lying?" Branch questioned feeling hurt by her words.

"I didn't say that," she replied softly looking at the marked up gray troll "I believe you."

"You do?" he asked feeling his heart skip a beat knowing that she believed him.

She nodded and said "Yes."

Poppy stayed as long as she could, but she had to get home before dark "I'll bring you some better snacks tomorrow," she said as she picked up her bag and began walking towards the door.

"Poppy," Branch said softly stopping the pink troll from opening the door "thanks for believing me."

"That's what friends do," Poppy replied giving him one last sweet smile before leaving.

After she left Branch was alone to think about what he had done and how bad he would be punished if his aunt got a hold of him. The young troll sat with his back against the wall of the tree trying his best not to think about everything that had happened to him "Do you think you deserve to be happy?" his aunt would always ask before doing whatever punishment she felt was right. Then there were the days that Creek's friend Cliff stayed over and the last time Branch had just been punished by his aunt when Cliff thought it would be funny to body slam the poor troll making sure that when he fell his face would hit the stand beside the bed. Both Creek and Cliff started laughing when they saw the amount of blood that was flowing from Branch's nose, the young gray troll turned to face the two laughing trolls and before he could stop himself, he had Cliff on the ground ready to strike.

"MOM!" Creek yelled and within seconds Aunt Hazel was yanking him off the crying bully and forcing him back downstairs where she pulled her punishing stick back out and laid into both sides a few times.

Branch tried the shake those memories from his head by standing up fast but by doing so he felt light-headed and collapsed, he then brought his hand up to his nose and felt the wetness of blood before everything went dark.


	22. Chapter 22

True to her word Poppy would visit Branch every other day bringing him special treats and other supplies that the young troll asked her for. He enjoyed the days she would visit because he enjoyed her company, it felt nice not to be made fun of or teased for being different. She would talk for hours and he just listened, he chose not to tell her about his random nose bleeds at night because he did not want to worry her. The longer he stayed the more his bruises began to fade away which made her happy.

"I'm so glad you're healing," she said as she sat down beside him handing him a cup of juice she had just poured.

"Me too," he whispered as he slowly took the cup from her "but can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she replied giving him a sweet smile.

"Why are you so nice to me?" he asked, "Aren't you afraid the others will be mad you're friends with me?"

"I'm your friend Branch and I don't like the way you are treated and made fun of all time," she explained "you deserve better than that, you are not a bad troll."

"How can you be sure?" he whispered lowering his head staring down at his reflection in the cup of juice.

"I just know it Branch," she replied as she scooted closer to him and gently placed her head onto his shoulder "you're a good troll and I like that about you."

Before he could stop himself, he had already began resting his own head against hers. "What are you doing!?" his head screamed "She doesn't want you to touch her nobody wants you to touch them." Just as he was about to lift his head up Poppy placed her hand on top of his which for some reason caused him to respond by very carefully taking hold of it. He stared down at his dull color next to her bright color then without warning he quickly sat up pulling his hand away in the process then turning away like he had done something wrong.

"Branch what's wrong?" she asked when he did not answer she let out a sad sigh before softly singing….

"Oh, why you look so sad, the tears are in your eyes,  
Come on and come to me now, and don't be ashamed to cry,  
Let me see you through, 'cause I've seen the dark side too.  
When the night falls on you, you don't know what to do,  
Nothing you confess could make me love you less,"

She stood up extending her hand wishing he would take hold of it again.

"I'll stand by you,  
I'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you,  
I'll stand by you…

So, if you're mad, get mad, don't hold it all inside,  
Come on and talk to me now.  
Hey there, what you got to hide?  
I get angry too, well, I'm alive like you…

"Dance with me," she whispered still holding out her hand for him to take. Branch turned back to her and stared at her hand wanting to take hold of it, but he held himself back. "I can't," he whispered slowly lowering his head to stare at the ground. Poppy gave him a caring smile as she continued to sing….

"I'll stand by you,  
I'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you,  
I'll stand by you.

Even to your darkest hour, and I'll never desert you,  
I'll stand by you.  
And when, when the night falls on you,  
You're feeling all alone, you're wandering on your own,  
I'll stand by you.

I'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you,  
I'll stand by you, baby even to your darkest hour,  
And I'll never desert you…..

Poppy stopped singing and looked at the gray troll and all his faint cuts and bruises, she was happy they were fading but at the same time she saddened by how he had gotten them in the first place. No matter how much he told he deserved them she refused to believe that any troll deserved to hurt and treated the way he had been no matter what they had done. Poppy was about to sit down next to him when she noticed him acting different "Branch?" she questioned gently placing a caring hand on his shoulder only to discover that he was trembling.

"No," she heard him mumble as he tried to avoid looking at her.

"Branch what is it?" she questioned not taking her eyes off him.

The young troll tried to bring his good hand up to his nose fast enough hoping that it wasn't bleeding. "Why now?" he thought as tried to hide his face from her, but she had already seen it.

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped quickly standing up and rushed over to her backpack to pulled out anything to help stop the bleeding. A beautifully folded tea napkin was all she found, and she wasted no time in rushing it back to her friend. "Here," she said helping sit up straight against the wall of the tree and giving him the napkin to help wipe the blood away.

"Maybe you should go see the doctor?" she suggested.

"No!" Branch quickly answered, "Then I'll have to go back to my Aunt's house, and she'll punish me for leaving."

"But what if we explain what happened and why you left in the first place,"

Branch shook his head "No one will believe me."

"But…"

"Poppy please," Branch begged "I can't go back."

Poppy knew he was right that he could not go back, who knows what his aunt would do to him and she most certainly did not want to find out. Poppy stayed as long as she could making sure her friend was well enough to be left alone, the two trolls said their goodbyes to each other which ended with Poppy wrapping her arms around Branch and hugging him close to her. Branch ignored the voice in his head slowly returned the hug with his good arm.

"I'll see you soon," she said as she backed away.

A tiny smile appeared on Branch's face as he waved goodbye to her. The young troll did not like it she left which meant that he was all alone again. Branch slowly made his way over to his little bed and made himself comfortable, soon it began to rain outside and the sound helped the young troll to relax as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next day Branch decided that he was going to give something to Poppy as a way of saying thank you for helping him. The young troll slowly wandered to the door and stopped, told himself that he was not going to venture to far from the tree just in case he had to quickly return to it. He held his breath as he exited the tree with extreme caution, looked from his left to his right but saw nothing. Slowly but surely, he emerged from the trunk of the tree after exiting the tree he used his ears to listen for any near by sounds and when he determined that the coast was clear he moved. He hadn't gone far when he saw the perfect gift to give her, there in the middle of the sea of flowers one bright yellow flower stood out. Branch stood there admiring the beauty of the flower as he imagined what Poppy's reaction was going to be like…. "It's beautiful!" he heard her say "Like you," he whispered out loud. The young picked the flower placed it nice in his hair just as he turned back, he was greeted by six happy faces.

"Well if it isn't out old friend?" Archer smirked as his gang gathered around him "Everyone's been looking for you Freak."

Branch began slowly backing away from the gang of trolls, but they sensed his fear. Archer singled for two of his gang members to grab hold of the young troll. The two trolls grabbed Branch both of his arms as Archer approached, Branch watched as the older troll reached into his hair and pulled out the flower then before Branch had a chance to say anything Archer threw the flower onto the ground and stomped on it. "I hope you enjoyed your nice little break because by the time we're done with you you're going to wish you were never born.

Meanwhile back at the tree Poppy had decided that she was going to spend the night with Branch in the 'Secret Club House' but when she entered, she saw that he was nowhere to be seen. She dropped her things and rushed back out into the woods. She had to find him before something bad happened to him.


	23. Chapter 23

Branch closed his eyes as Archer and his gang circled him then they stopped, and his Aunt walked up "You thought you could hide from me?" she asked yanking him close to her "I bet you are wondering how I found you huh?"

Before the young troll answered her Poppy stepped out from behind her "Hi Branch," she greeted giving him a half smile.

"Don't look so surprised," Aunt Hazel smirked

"I don't understand," the young troll whispered looking at the pink troll that stood beside his aunt.

"Isn't obvious?" she asked shrugging her shoulders, when he did not answer her, she continued "I only pretended to be your friend."

"So, you're not really my friend?" he asked lowering his head to stare down at the ground.

"I mean who in their right minds would want to be friends with you?" Creek asked suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"Why?" Branch mumbled down low as they all started moving closer towards him…..

"Branch, where are you?" Poppy whispered loudly looking all around for any signs of where her friend might be. She hadn't gone far when she saw Branch huddled in a ball trying to shield his face from something. The pink troll slowly moved towards her friend trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"Are you hurt?" she asked as she got closer, but he did not answer. She stopped a few feet away when she saw a vine wrapped around his left ankle, it was no ordinary vine it was deep purple in color and she remembered they had recently learned about it school. The the vine belonged to a carnivorous type of plant that would use said vine to wrap around its prey and cause them to hallucinate showing them things that scared them starting off small then to what they feared the most. Then when its prey was least expecting it would strike. Poppy looked around for anything to help remove the vine from Branch's ankle before it was too late and she knew that it would be too difficult to remove with just her hands. Her eyes scanned the area until she spotted a rather large rock that she could use to break the vine off around Branch's ankle. She knew she had to hurry by the look on her friend's face she could tell the plant was making his visions more terrible.

Branch closed his eyes just as Aunt Hazel raised her large stick over her head, the young troll braced himself for an impact that he never felt. In fact, he felt something completely different, a soft touch to his face and the words "Branch wake up," could be faintly heard. Dazed and confused by what was going Branch opened his eyes and saw just Poppy leaning over him.

"What happened?" he asked groggily as he sat up looking around.

Poppy wasted no time in telling Branch about the plant and how it had wrapped its self around his ankle causing him to hallucinate. Branch looked down at his ankle where part of the plant was still wrapped around it, he bent forward and quickly removed it. "It was all in my head?" he asked looking up at her.

The pink troll nodded before throwing her arms around him burying her face in his neck "Don't ever do that to me again," she scolded "I was so worried about you."

No matter how times she hugged him each one always seemed to catch him off guard "I'm sorry I upset you," he explained slowly bringing his own arms up and finally hugging her back "but I was just looking for something to give to you."

"For me?" she asked slowly lifting her head from his neck and staring at him.

"Yeah," he nodded remembering the flower he had picked and wondering if it was still in his hair, he reached up and pulled out the bright yellow flower and handed it to her.

"It's beautiful," she said as she took the flower from him and held in her hand.

"Beautiful," he repeated watching her eyes light up from the flower "I wanted to give you something for helping me," he replied shyly.

"I love it," she said giving him a sweet smile "thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied returning a small smile.

Poppy stood up placing the flower neatly in her hair then offering her hand for Branch to take and without any hesitation he took a hold of it. Once on his feet they each exchanged another smile to one another. The two trolls had just started walking back in the direction of the club house when they heard the sound of nearby voices. Branch recognized them right as Archer and his gang, he stopped fast afraid to move but also to use his ears to determine what direction they were coming from. Poppy glanced nervously over at her friend not wanting to see him get hurt, she would do her best to protect him from the bullies. The rustling sound from the tall grass told them they were closing in fast, Branch grabbed Poppy by the hand and pulled her to a quick hiding spot where they would have to wait until Archer and friends left.

"Creek said his Freaky cousin ran away," Archer said as he entered the area "well I say good riddance."

"Yeah, who cares?" Buck laughed as he walked over and sat down close to where the two trolls were hiding.

Poppy felt Branch tense up and she gently gave his hand a soft squeeze trying to relax him. The group of trolls laughed and joked about Branch and how much they wanted to hurt again if they ran into him as they started tossing a ball around. They did this for a while before growing bored and just as they were about to leave the ball rolled into the area where the two trolls were hiding, Buck walked over and reached in as both Branch and Poppy held their breaths. Buck's hand came mere inches from touching Poppy's foot as he grabbed the ball and ran to join his friends leaving the area. Once they were out of sight both trolls breathed a sigh of relief.

They hurried back to the club house before they ran into anyone else "My Dad said I could stay here tonight." Poppy said happily as she flopped herself down on a bunch of pillows.

Branch looked at her "Really?" he asked.

"Well, he thinks at staying over at Suki's tonight, but it will be fun!" she explained with such excitement "I mean I brought lots of snacks like Popcorn, juice and cotton candy!"

"You brought all that?"

"YEP!" she replied, "He also gave me money for a pizza."

Branch watched as Poppy unpacked her things which seemed like a lot for just one night "I hope I remembered everything," she said taking a step and staring at her things.

"Are you sure you brought enough things?" Branch asked playfully.

"Do you think I should have brought more things?" she asked

"What no!" he laughed

Poppy smiled "I'll be right back," she said as she walked towards the exit "going to get our pizza."

When she returned the two trolls sat down to eat together, Branch allowed her to have the first slice because his mother told him that a gentleman always allowed the lady to choose first. After choosing her slice it was his turn and picking out his own piece, he took a tiny bite savoring the taste in his mouth. It had so long since he had had something warm in his belly, he could feel it going down as he swallowed the tiny chunk.

"Only good trolls are allowed to eat," his aunt's words played in his head "are you a good troll?"

"No," he whispered lowering his head to stare at the table as the rest of them ate their food around him. Aunt Hazel had decided it was a better punishment for him to join them at the table and watch them eat rather than just sit up in the room. He had gone to bed so many nights hungry while everyone else's bellies were full.

Poppy could tell he was deep in thought "Branch?" she questioned "Is everything alright?"

The young troll just nodded and closed his eyes taking another bite….. "EAT IT!" Creek hissed as held a cupcake close to Branch's mouth trying his best to force him to eat the forbidden treat. "NO!" Branch snapped back as he pushed Creek's hand away, wondering why Creek was so bent on getting him in trouble. Cliff's laughter ringing in the background as Branch held Creek's hand back away from his face, Branch turned his face away from the cupcake at the exact moment Cliff shoved Creek from behind causing the cupcake to smash and smear all over the side of his face. Both trolls laughed before Creek started calling for his mom.

"Branch ate the cupcake!" he chanted

Aunt Hazel stormed in with fire in her eyes as she glared down at him trying to wipe of the mess off his face "BRANCH!" she hissed grabbing a good portion of his hair and yanking him forward. Branch could see Cliff and Creek smiling across the room "Look at you!" she scolded using her other hand to turn his head to get a better look mess on his face. She said not another word but instead smacked him hard across his cheek not once but twice.

"Do you not like the pizza?" Poppy asked noticing how slow he was eating it.

Branch blinked focusing on his surroundings and the same slice of pizza he had been holding for the longest time "No, I do it just that I was thinking about something," he replied.

"What?" she asked.

"It's not important," he whispered finally taking another bite of his slice of pizza.

The two trolls ate until they just couldn't eat another bite and for Branch it felt good to finally have his belly full instead of empty….


	24. Chapter 24

Branch groaned as he slowly sat up in a giant pile of feathers from last nights pillow war the two young trolls had after being so hyped up from all the sugary snacks Poppy had brought. He looked to his right and saw a still sleeping Poppy who he could not figure out how on earth she was even comfortable, she had fallen asleep with her legs braced up against the inside of the tree and her body twisted another way. He could hear her soft snores as he looked around the room at just how big of mess they had made but he would be lying if he said that he hadn't enjoyed having fun and doing something that he had not done in a long time….laugh.

They had just finished eating last of the yummy sweets when Poppy jumped up all excited and suggesting how much fun it would be to have a pillow fight. "Are you serious?" Branch asked knowing that if he had been home he would be punished for even thinking about having any sort of fun.

"Come on Branch," Poppy said handing him a pillow "when's the last time you some real fun?"

"I don't remember," he replied looking down at the pillow.

"Well," Poppy said giving him a playful smile "you my friend are going to have a blast."

Branch smiled back as he too got to his feet to join the pink troll both feeling the sugar rush from all the sweets that they had had starting to take over "You are about to go up against the best pillow warrior in all of Troll Village," Poppy said before playfully tapping him with her pillow. It didn't take long before feathers were flying all over the place and both trolls were laughing. As soon all the pillows were destroyed Branch flopped down in a pile of feathers completely out of breath from all the excitement and stared up into the darkness of the tree as his sugar rush began wearing off. It had been a long time since he had had so much fun and he never thought he would ever again. He felt his eyes getting heavy as he continued to stare up until it all went dark….

"My head," he heard Poppy say as she slowly sat up wiping her sleepy eyes before looking around "Oh my gosh!" she said in total surprise "Did we really make this much of a mess?"

"Sorry," Branch whispered feeling bad about the size of the mess.

Poppy just smiled "You have to admit that last night was pretty fun."

Branch nodded "Besides," Poppy continued "now we get to have fun cleaning it up."

The two trolls quickly worked together to clean up their mess "I had fun last night," Branch admitted as he stuffed the last of the feathers back inside the last pillow and zipping it closed.

"I'm glad," Poppy replied giving him one of her sweet smiles.

Branch liked her smiles even though they gave him a weird feeling in his belly and for some reason his heart would start beating faster. He did not know these strange new feelings meant all he knew was that she was a good friend to him even going out of her way to make him feel like he wasn't that different than everyone else. The rest of the day Branch watched Poppy scrapbook about their sleep over and the beautiful flower he gave her, she pulled it out of her hair and smelled its sweet fragrance.

"Why don't you join me?" she asked, "I brought extra supplies."

"That's okay," he replied, "I don't do scrapbooks."

"How come?" she asked cocking her head to the side "All trolls like making scrapbooks."

Branch shrugged his shoulders, but he had never really been into scrapbooking even before he lost his colors, he found the over use of glitter and glue to much for his liking. Not to mention the one and only time he actually did attempt to make a scrapbook for his parents for Surprise A Troll Day it ended up a total mess. Glue and glitter everywhere even all over the young troll from his hair right down to his feet. His mom was just outside their pod he started crying from rubbing glitter in his eye, she rushed to his side trying to calm him down.

"Let me see Sweetie," she said calmly and gently touching his cheek.

"MY EYE!" the young troll sobbed hugging his mother close.

His mother told him he had to brave and hold still while she rinsed the glitter out of his eye…. "I'm sorry I made such a big mess," he said.

"What were trying to do?" his mom asked.

"I was making you and daddy a scrapbook for Surprise A Troll Day," he explained.

His mom smiled "Branch you are already the best gift your father and I could ever ask for."

"You're just saying that because you're my mom."

"No, it's true," his mom replied before pulling close to her and started tickling him…

Branch let out a heavy sigh oh how he wished he could turn back time and not be so lost in song the day his parents died, if only he had heard the creature sneaking up behind him then his parents would still be here. From her spot Poppy glanced up at the gray troll sitting across from her and wondered what was going through his head as he sat in deep thought. "Well," she said gathering all her scrapbook things and placing them in her bag "I should start heading home."

Branch watched her feeling sad and a great deal of loneliness come over him, he hated seeing her leave because that meant that he would be all alone again. "I'll see you later," she said giving him a quick hug goodbye and leaving…..

Zpppspdospdospodpsodsp

The more time the two trolls spent together the more Branch noticed the funny feeling in is stomach start to grow and how nervous and shy he was becoming when he was around her. He enjoyed seeing her smiling face as she greeted him before wrapping her arms around him. He also began noticing things about her that he never noticed before, like how she had exactly sixteen glitter freckles on each cheek or how she always smelled sweet like strawberries… 'Strawberries,' he thought just like the cupcake she gave him when they first met.

 **Thank you all for the reviews they have really meant a lot to me. In my story Branch and Poppy are about the same age and right now they are 12 years old. Poor Branch not sure what these new feelings he has towards his friends. This is just a short filler chapter. I do not own Trolls or any of the song in my fic.**


	25. Chapter 25

Creek watched as his mother paced back and forth as he ate his breakfast knowing that the longer Branch stayed away, the more he was going to be punished when he did show up. "When I get my hands on that brat he is going to wish he was never born….."she said coldly before looking back towards her son "Are you sure that she hasn't seen him?"

"I've already asked Poppy many times if she has seen him, but she keeps telling me that she hasn't seen or heard from him," he replied, "and Poppy is the most honest troll I know."

Hazel nodded and sighed at the same time "I was just so sure he would have reached out to her."

"Don't worry Mum, we'll find him." Creek said giving his mother a reassuring smile as he stood up and walked over to give her a hug.

"I know we will," Hazel replied trying to hide the anger she felt towards her absent nephew "it's only a matter of time."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

As Creek walked towards school his mind was racing trying to figure out the best way to help his mother, he knew that Branch needed to be found but how? Then it came to him, if he could somehow convince Archer and his gang to help him finding his good for nothing cousin then his mother could go back to being her old self and make the little worm pay for causing his family so much trouble.

When the school pod came into view Creek quickly scanned the area for any signs of Archer or any one of the bully's close friends. The purple troll let out a heavy sigh at first he did not see any of the bullies then just as he was about to give up to go find his own friends he spotted Buck sneaking in the bushes. Creek inhaled deeply before hurrying off behind the taller troll. It was now or never….

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Poppy sat in a slight daze with a tiny smile on her lips as she ran her fingers on a flower hair clip just about her right ear, sure she had many hair accessories but this one was special. Branch had made just for her and had given it to her as a surprise, it was small and yellow just like the flower he had picked for her a while back. As she continued to touch the small clip her smile grew, she remembered how he acted when he presented it to her.

-FLASHBACK-

"Um Poppy," he said sounding a bit nervous one afternoon when she came to visit him.

"Is everything alright Branch?" she asked giving him a worried look when she noticed that his eyes were avoiding hers.

He nodded slowly as he took a few steps towards her "I made something for you," he replied in a almost whisper as he held out his right hand with a horribly wrapped object.

"Aww!" she exclaimed giving him the biggest smile and causing his cheeks to light up with a pinkish glow. Poppy took the small gift and opened it, inside was the small handmade yellow flower hair clip. "You made this?" she asked as she carefully took the tiny object and how much detail he had put into it. He nodded again; she could have sworn that his cheeks were even a darker shade of color than they were just a few seconds before. "I love it!"

"You d…do?" he asked getting his own tiny smile.

"Yes of course!" she replied happily before carefully placing the flower in her hair then turning back to her friend wrapping her arms around him giving him a hug. Just as Branch placed his own arms around her, she quickly turned and kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"Your welcome," he replied shyly and slowly bringing his hand up to touch his cheek.

-END of FLASHBACK-

A soft sigh escaped her lips thinking about him, Branch was nothing like what the others said about him and she wished that they would see him the way that she saw him. Almost two months had gone by since he had come to her asking for help and in that time she swore he wasn't as dull colored as he once was. She worried about him though because for reasons unknown he would still have bad nosebleeds and that scared her, she knew the doctor would be able to help him but asking for help would risk his aunt finding him and taking him away.

"Hey Pops!" her friends greeted as they joined her at the lunch table.

"Hey guys," she replied focusing all her attention on them and not the flower.

"Sorry I'm late," came Creek's voice as he hurried across the way and sat down beside Poppy.

Everyone greeted him minus Poppy who just gave him a nod of the head which did not go unnoticed by the purple troll. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked placing his palm against her forehead.

"I'm fine," she replied feeling slightly uncomfortable from his touch. She wondered how a troll so nice make up such terrible things about someone else, it was because of those things Creek had said that everyone treated Branch so horrible and it broke her heart.

"You sure?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Poppy moved away from him slightly "I said I'm fine," she said trying to reassure him and her friends who were now all giving her a concerned look.

"So, any luck finding your cousin yet?" Biggie asked deciding it was best to change the subject.

Creek shook his head "No, not yet," he sighed "but mum is still hopeful that he'll come home."

"Well let's hope that that ugly freak never shows his ugly face here again," Archer said loud enough as he and his gang walked past Poppy and her friend's table "because if he does, he'll be sorry."

"You're nothing more than a bully who enjoys hurting someone who is smaller than you!" Poppy snapped as she quickly got to her feet "My only question is why are you like that?"

Archer turned back to her with a smirk "You're right, I do enjoy it." he said folding his arms across his chest "Besides why do you even care about that loser anyway, after what he did to you at your party awhile back I would think you would careless about what happens to him."

Poppy glared up at the bully as her friends remained quiet behind her "I don't think Branch is the problem but you and every other troll who treats like he's poison."

"Whatever," Archer replied with an eyeroll before turning and walking away.

"Poppy why are you sticking up for my cousin?" Creek asked narrowing his eyes "I told you before he was not a good troll."

"Just stop it!" she scolded "I don't think Branch is as bad as you say he is."

"And how would you know?" Creek defended "You don't know him like I do, he likes to lie and make up stories."

Poppy knew it was best to drop it because Creek would figure out that she knew where Branch was and he might follow her, which she certainly did not want to happen. She knew Branch was counting on her to keep his secret and she was not about to blow it, this meant that she would have to avoid sneaking off to her club house for the next few days because she did not need Creek or anyone else following her to where Branch was. She did not want to see him get her because of her.

"I think I'll head to class early," she said grabbling her stuff and walking towards the exit "I'm sure Ms. Petal could use the extra help setting up the arts and crafts."

Poppy's other friends soon followed leaving Creek all alone at the table deep in thought, was his mom, right? Was Poppy hiding something about Branch? The purple troll looked over at Archer who was sitting at his own table now with crooked smile on his face and he gave him a nod to which Archer slowly nodded back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few days had passed since Branch had last scene Poppy and he was beginning to wonder if it had anything to do with the flower he made her, maybe she was avoiding him because of it? She seemed to like it when he gave it to her, he remembered the way her face lit up when she saw and how it made his heartbeat faster. He let out a heavy sigh before a tiny smile appeared then she stepped in only this time something was different about her.

"Poppy?" he questioned when he saw her just standing by the doorway with her head down "Are you okay?"

"Branch I…" she half whispered as she slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.

He was by her side in seconds and when he got there he saw what was wrong with her, she large mark forming on her cheek almost like some had hit her. Branch could his anger starting to build up inside him "Who did this to you?" he asked as he gently placed his hand on the side of her face. Poppy leaned her face into his hand as a couple of tears fell "Archer got upset the other day at school when I defended you, so he did this to me today," she explained.

"This is all my fault," Branch whispered as he took a seat next to Poppy on the floor and lowered his head.

"What? No," she said turning to face him "none of this is your fault."

Branch opened his mouth to reply but was cut short when the door was quickly shoved open and stood Archer and his gang. Before either troll had time to react, they were being yanked to their feet. "How did you…..?" Poppy started to say but Archer cut her off "Followed you a distance, I knew you would be to distracted after getting hit to notice that we were not too far behind you." Archer then turned all his attention to his intended target "Did you think you could hide forever?" he asked getting a wide grin "because now you're going to be in so much pain from all the months you missed."

Everything happened in a flash, one second Branch and Poppy were standing close to each other and the next Buck had Branch on the ground while Archer watched. He could hear Poppy begging them to stop but it only seemed to make Buck hit harder then she somehow managed to get away from the troll holding her, she rushed to try and stop Buck but he shoved her away hard knocking her out. Buck then raised his fist high above Branch only to have the gray troll stop him from hitting him again. Branch used all his strength to shove the bigger troll off him he had to make sure Poppy was okay, this only angered the bullies and soon they all joined in on the unfair fight. Buck was ruthless and he showed no mercy as he beat the smaller troll. "Remember when I did this?" he asked as some troll covered Branch's mouth and Buck grabbed a hold of his arm, Branch knew what was going to do but he didn't have the strength anymore to stop him and so the bully snapped it back again. The pain was as he remembered it and they just laughed. Soon everything went dark…..


	26. Chapter 26

Pain was all that he felt as he helplessly laid there, sharp pains ran up and down both sides every time he took a breath. However, his pain was the least of his worries, he had to make sure she was okay. They had caused her to hit her head hard, she just had to be alright. It took all his strength he had to turn himself towards her, he could see that she was still unconscious from where she hit her head. Ignoring his own pain, he held his breath and somehow managed to pick himself off the ground to make his way over to his friend's side where he quickly discovered a large gash and bump on her forehead.

"Poppy?" he whispered carefully bringing his good hand up to rip a piece of his pocket off and use it gently wipe away the blood on her forehead from the gash. His heart sank knowing that she was hurt because of him, he did not care what they did to him, she did not deserve what had happened to her.

"Branch?" she whispered back as she slowly brought her hand up and placed on top his. Branch smiled slightly from her gentle touch but that all came crashing back down when he was yanked away from her again.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD MOVE?" Buck demanded

"You hurt her," Branch said trying to sound brave as he turned to face the big bully on unsteady legs that were ready to give out any second.

"Branch, no," Poppy said quickly grabbing ahold of his hand, she could see he was already hurt bad.

"I say we pound him again," Archer suggested giving his friends a sinister smirk. The others quickly agreed and with one hard shove they had the young troll on the ground again. Poppy tried getting up faster than she should have but being light-headed from hitting her head she fell forward and landing on her hands and knees.

"Stop it!" she begged as a few tears ran down her cheeks, she couldn't stand hearing the sound of her friend being hurt but no matter how much she pleaded with them they just ignored her. Archer took it upon himself to hold her back until they were finished.

"Stop trying cover your ugly face!" Buck hissed as he yanked Branch's good hand away so he could have easy access to it. The pain was so much more intense, he knew that even if he wanted to there was no way he would be able to pick himself up now. He didn't even have the energy to lift his head up anymore let alone his body. Every breath was more painful than the last one, every inch of him was in so much pain. When he was least expecting it another swift kick to his side and the sound of their laughter filled his ears, he knew he must have looked so pathetic to them but fighting back had only made them want to hit him ten times harder than before. Branch could feel his body starting to shiver even though he wasn't cold, he knew that if they noticed they would only find this more amusing and laugh some more but he couldn't stop himself. He was fighting to stay conscious, but the the blackness seemed more welcoming. His hand trembled as he slowly brought his up to the side his face where he could feel the warm sticky wetness that was covering it.

Now that Branch was no longer trying to block or fight back the bullies grew bored and decided it was no longer fun and it was time to leave. Buck and the others stood back to admire their handy work, "He'll feel that in the morning," one bully laughed from behind Buck.

"I'm pretty sure he's feeling it now," Buck answered with a wide grin.

"Good job boys," Archer said right before finally releasing Poppy from his vice grip and leading the way out "now let's get out of here.

The moment she was free she was by her friend's side; her heart broke when she saw the condition, he was in. She knew she had to get him help, but she also did not want to leave his side. Poppy took his hand into hers and just held onto it for a bit, she was not going to let those bullies get away with what they had done. She knew that if she told her dad he would take care of it but what would it all matter if she lost her best friend. Six against one was not a fair fight to begin with and then they were also much bigger and stronger than Branch was.

"Branch," she said softly as she leaned forward gently caressing his forehead with the tips of her fingers from her other hand. "I don't want to leave you, but I need to get you some help."

Branch wanted to answer her, but he didn't have the energy to open his mouth and speak, he barely had enough strength to even keep his eyes open.

Poppy then placed a tender kiss on his forehead and whispered, "I'll be back," be slowly getting to her feet. Branch reluctantly let her hand go, he was nervous and not because of what would happen if the bullies came back but what if something were to happen to her? It took whatever little bit of strength he had to turn his head slightly to watch her leave. "Poppy," he whispered in small weak voice but she was already gone.

Then the darkness came, and he was completely surrounded by it which frightened him because no matter how hard he tried to wake up he just couldn't. Through the darkness he could hear muffled voices all around him, yet he could not respond. Branch could feel himself becoming even more weaker and then he woke up. He found himself laying in a bed with his broken arm all bandaged up and in not that much pain. He looked around the room and saw Poppy next to his bedside giving him one of her signature smiles that he liked so much.

'Hi," she said softly as her smile widened.

"Hi," he whispered back.

Poppy's smile slowly faded as tears began to flow down her sparkly cheeks "I almost lost you," she said whispered "and I don't know what I would do if I had."

Branch wanted to just reach up and wipe away her tears, but he held himself back because of a sudden shyness that he felt.

"So, I have some good news," the nurse said as she entered the room to check on Branch "we contacted your aunt and she should be here shortly."

Whatever color Branch had quickly faded when he heard that, he knew he was going to be in so much trouble with Aunt Hazel. He had ran away a little over four month ago and he knew she how upset she was.

He opened his mouth to say something but just as the words were about to come out she stepped in the.

"There he is," she cooed putting on a fake worried expression "my poor nephew, what happened to you?"

Branch could see it in her eyes that she couldn't wait to get him home so she could unleash her full punishment onto him…

 ** _Sorry it took for to update this story, I just have been extremely busy and whatnot. I would like to add that I do not own trolls but Dreamworks does. Also sorry for any typos, I will go back and fix them. Thank you so much for your reviews, likes, favorites and following_**. Leave a review and I will update faster.


	27. Chapter 27

"So, when do I get to take my darling nephew home?" Aunt Hazel asked as the nurse troll walked around Branch's bed checking the monitors that he was hooked up.

"The doctor says it would be best to keep Branch here for a few more days," she replied giving a quick smile before leaving to check on other sick or injured trolls.

Branch glanced over at Poppy and though he did not say anything she could read his expression; he was pleading for help. She knew he could not return living with his aunt after what he told her she had done to him. Poppy could tell that Branch's aunt was angry and whatever concern she was showing now was fake. Branch did not deserve to be treated the way he had been, he deserved to be loved and cared for.

Aunt Hazel quickly turned her attention to the pink troll who had not left Branch's side since the moment she arrived. "Would you mind stepping out my Dear," she said in a voice so sweet, "I would like to have a word with my nephew alone."

Poppy felt Branch's hand grip tighter onto hers "Branch," she said giving him a reassuring smile "I'll be right back, I'm going to get something to snack."

Branch slowly let go of her hand and swallowed as he watched her get up to leave, Aunt Hazel waited until she knew Poppy was out of earshot before she walked over and hovered over him. The way she glared down at him made him wish he was hiding; he knew that if she could do whatever she wanted to do to him right then and there she would. "Did you really think you could run away?" she asked in a sharp whisper "And trick that poor girl into liking you by telling her all your lies, just so she could take pity on you?"

"I didn't lie to her," Branch mumbled under his breath.

"You have no idea what kind of trouble you are in when you get home!" she hissed balling her hands into fists. Branch could tell she wanted to hit him just by the way her fists were trembling with rage. "I am personally going to make sure you never EVER see her again," she continued "You have no idea what's coming to you."

Branch looked down at his hands then without warning she pulled his collar so that he was now in a sitting up position. He flinched when she slowly ran her hand over each and every one of the tender blotches from his back to his face. Branch held his breath when her hand stopped on his bandaged right cheek "Tell me," she said giving him a tiny smile "how did they do this one?"

"I don't remember," he lied remembering how they had held him down while Buck had taken something sharp and ran across his cheek before the bully started punching the side of his face repeatedly.

"You're lying," she whispered coldly as she slowly applied pressure to the bandaged cheek which caused it to start oozing blood again.

"I'm not lying!" Branch hissed turning his face away from her touch.

"Branch, I brought you some ice cream," Poppy said happily as she reentered the room carrying a scoop of the frozen treat with a way more sprinkles then it should have had. The first thing Poppy noticed the moment she walked in was the blood that slowly running down her friend's face. "Are you alright?" she asked quickly rushing to his side.

"I'm fine," Branch replied in an almost whisper.

"Here's your ice cream," Poppy said handing it over to him…..

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A few days had past which meant that it was the day Branch would be released to his aunt. The young troll sat in silence as he tried to wrap his head around what was going to happen to him once he was back in her care. His door opened and his heart stopped for a second until he saw it was Poppy, she was wearing the flower clip that he had made for her in her hair and looked even more prettier than usual. He gave her a half-hearted smile wishing he could tell her that he was grateful that she had shown him kindness and friendship when no one else had but he was too shy.

Poppy smiled back as she walked into the room and sat down beside him "I know I made you a promised, but Branch I think that maybe my Dad would be able to help."

"What if he can't," he whispered fearing that his aunt fool anyone trying to help him into believing that he was nothing more than a liar.

"Well we don't know unless we try," Poppy replied letting out a heavy sigh.

"Fine," he said softly as he slowly stood up then turning around to face her, he noticed the hair clip he made her was almost ready to fall out. "May I?" he asked innocently pointing to her hair.

Poppy gave him a quick nod allowing him to use his left hand to try and fix the falling out hair clip, when he struggled with it, she used her own hand to help him. After it was fixed Branch held out his hand for her to take, unsure of what he was doing Poppy still took hold of it. Both trolls stood facing each other for what seemed like forever before Branch leaned into her and carefully hugged her "Thank you for being my friend," he whispered right before he gently pressed his lips against her cheek. Her cheek was soft and felt like velvet. His kiss was soft and sweet, and it completely caught Poppy off guard, she felt her heart begin to beat faster and her face go hot.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Aunt Hazel hissed as she yanked Branch away from Poppy by grabbing a hold of his broken arm.

Branch hung his head in shame knowing that his aunt was going to punish him even more now that she had seen his little kiss. Before Poppy and Branch could even say their goodbyes Aunt Hazel rushed home, they walked through the door and just as Branch was about to go upstairs Aunt Hazel stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going? She asked smugly.

"I thought….." he started say but she cut him right off grabbing a good handful of his hair and dragging him towards a door that opened up to the dirt floor basement. The room was dark, cold, wet and smelled very musty.

"Now," Aunt Hazel said pick up her thick punishing stick "how about a lash for everyday that you gone? That's about four months' worth."

Aunt Hazel showed no mercy "Did you really think you deserved to be happy?" she asked when she was finished and watching him struggle trying to put his vest back on as it touched his tender back.

"No," he replied in a weak shaky voice finally able to get his vest back on "I thought you would be happy because I wasn't here."

Aunt Hazel looked at him and all she felt was hatred towards him, deep down she knew I wasn't his fault that her brother was dead, but she still blamed him for it. She couldn't explain why she was like that with him except that his mother and herself never really got along in the past and that Branch and his mother shared the same color skin tone back when Branch had his color. She knew she did not want Branch to regain his true colors because she felt that he deserved to be an outcast and to treated poorly by the others.

"YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY!" she snapped as another flash of rage came over her and she gave him a hard shove forward "SEEING YOU LIKE THIS!"

Landing hard on his already injured arm hurt but Branch knew it was best to stay put and not move. He stayed in that spot until she left then he let his tears fall silently so she did not hear. His back had already been bruised and marked up from Archer's gang and now it had been hit by his aunt so many times. Branch buried his face into his left arm and just cried…..


	28. Chapter 28

Poppy gently placed her hand on the side of her cheek where Branch had kissed her, she took in a deep breath as she approached her father. She knew this was the best way that she would be able to help Branch before it was too late. "Dad," she said stopping beside him and trying her best to hold back her tears "Can I tell you something."

"Poppy?" he questioned noticing how upset his daughter looked "What's wrong Sweetheart?"

"A friend of mine needs help," she replied softly barely able to hold back her tears any longer "and I am afraid that if he doesn't get help something terrible is going to happen."

Peppy wrapped his arms around her "Tell me everything."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Branch sat alone in the darkness trying his best not to make any kind of sound for fear that his aunt would return and hit him again, earlier he had made the tiniest noise when he bumped into an object and it almost fell over. Aunt Hazel was down there in seconds raising her hand and slapping her young nephew across his face so hard that it caused it to start bleed again. The sound of the basement door opening caused Branch to jump, he hadn't made any sort of noise so why was she coming down to punish him? The young troll couldn't help but to start trembling knowing that she was going to hurt for no reason whatsoever other than because she enjoyed it. He knew no matter how much he braced himself it was still going to hurt just much if not worst than the last time.

"GET OVER HERE!" she hissed as she snapped her fingers.

Branch got to his feet and walked over with his head down because he was afraid to make any eye contact with her.

"UPSTAIRS NOW!" she snapped grabbing hold of his broken arm and yanking him quickly behind her. She pulled him all up to the bathroom where she had different color powder and cream laid out. She then began to harshly apply it to his skin trying to match the color to his skin tone. "Peppy and Poppy are coming over to see you because someone had to tell all those lies about how they are mistreated by his family."

Once she found the right color combination, she ordered him to take off his vest so she could cover up the dark marks that were all over his back. Branch held his breath as she purposely used a lot of pressure on his tender back, as he stood there he noticed his reflection and how marked up he was. Dried blood on the side of his face from earlier that day, a bruise on each eye but what stuck the most was a deep purple mark on his neck.

"You are going to tell them that you lied and how you made everything up!" she hissed quickly turning him to face her "Understand?"

"Yes," he half whispered looking into her eyes.

"Good," she replied coldly "because if you don't….I will break you."

She then proceeded to smear the rest color all over his face and neck. "Do I make myself clear?" she asked.

"Yes," he whispered again.

"Now finish yourself up, I have to go prepare for their arrival." Branch waited until she was gone before he began applying the color to his skin, he carefully ran his good hand over his neck and as he did he felt the heat coming from the mark around it. Next he touched his still bandaged cheek and couldn't help but to remember the pain and fear he felt being pinned down by the bully as the bigger troll just kept hitting him over and over on the side of his face all while Poppy begged them to stop. He shook his head to bring himself back to the present where he quickly finished covering up his all new marks that he had gotten in last couple days of being home.

Branch turned to leave the bathroom but came face to face with Creek instead. "I can't believe Poppy lied to protect you," he said folding his arms across his chest "I mean look at you…..you're just so ugly and disgusting." When Branch did not respond it upset Creek so much that he did what had done months ago when Grandma Rosiepuff had taken them on a picnic, he shoved Branch backwards into the bathroom sink so that his hurt back was right up against it. Creek shoved into Branch harder causing so much pain but Branch tried his best to ignore it, when Creek noticed that wasn't upsetting his cousin enough he quickly tried to tear off the bandage on Branch's cheek but Branch turned his face away.

"That looks like it hurt," he teased "I bet it was funny seeing you get the crap beat out of you."

The pain Branch was feeling from his back being pressed up against the sink was starting to bring tears to his eyes but he was determined not to let them fall. When Branch refused to give Creek the reaction he wanted the purple troll grew bored and just left. It wasn't long after that before Poppy and father showed up, Branch tried explain that it had all been a big lie and that his family never abused him; Poppy of course did not believe any of it.

"I don't understand," she said walking over to him "why would you make up all that and tell me it was all true?"

"I'm sorry Poppy," he replied feeling his aunt's stare directly on him "but I only told you that stuff so you would feel sorry for me, nothing more."

"Branch why are you lying?" she asked taking his hand into hers "Please tell my dad everything you told me."

Branch looked down at their hands before taking in a deep breath and finally opening up about everything, as he did so he began wiping off the makeup to reveal all his new marks.

"HE'S LYING!" he heard Aunt Hazel snap

"I don't think he is," Peppy replied "and I will not allow him to stay here any longer. We will get you the help you need but I feel it is not safe for him to be in your care."

Poppy smiled and squeezed Branch's hand as Peppy turned toward him and said, "Now go get your stuff."

Branch nodded as he and Poppy went to go gather his small amount of clothes "She's not going to hurt you anymore." Poppy said happily.

"I don't know how to thank you," the young troll replied shyly. Poppy just smiled before giving him a gentle hug being careful not to put pressure on his back.

"THIS ISN'T OVER…..WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'RE GOING TO WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!" Aunt Hazel yelled as Peppy escorted Branch out of the and to freedom. Once free Branch could feel like a weight had been lifted off him and he could finally have a better life.


	29. Chapter 29

"Here it is!" Poppy said happily as she led Branch into a large room.

Branch looked around at the room "Are you sure?"

"It's our honor to have you as our guest," Peppy said walking in behind the two young trolls "now please, make yourself at home."

"Thank you," Branch replied, "thank you very much."

"You're welcome," Peppy said smiling down at Branch before repeating "now make yourself at home."

Poppy stayed behind when her dad left to make Trollberry surprise for dinner. She said nothing but just stared at her friend as he put his little bit of possessions away. She could see all the new marks he had acquired from just being back with his aunt for just those couple days, it made her feel sad knowing he had been treated that way. She hated to imagine what he had gone through just for being who he was. "What?" he asked when he noticed her lingering stare.

"I'm so happy you are finally away from all that," she said softly not taking her eyes off him and slowly walking over towards him.

"Me too," he replied giving her a tiny smile.

Poppy very carefully and gently placed her hand on the side of his face, Branch jumped out of habit from being hit so many times before he slowly began relaxing into her hand. The marks on his face were getting darker as the rest of the cover up he applied earlier started to fade away. Being that close Poppy noticed the mark around his neck and how dark purple it was becoming.

"Branch your neck," she said softly feeling tears beginning to sting her eyes "it looks so painful."

The young gray troll took a few steps back with his head down now feeling embarrassed that she had seen his neck, he hated the way it made him look. "I don't even know what I did to make her so angry with me," he said down low turning his body away from her as he continued staring down at the ground. He remembered how she had just finished yelling and using her stick across his back when he felt something wrap tightly around his neck from behind before he had a chance to move. His heart began to beat faster out of fear as he struggled to keep whatever it was from going any tighter than it already had. But he was failing miserably with only one hand to use and so it kept digging deeper and deeper in to his neck almost completely cutting off his breathing. She then yanked him back causing him to fall into pile of Creek's old stuff that had been stored in the basement. Branch could feel himself getting weaker and his grip on the cord loosening as his eyes started becoming heavier. When she finally let go he was able to start breathing again. She walked in front of him and with her hand ready to strike him again across his face only stopping a few inches from his cut, a wide smile appeared on her face when she saw the way he flinched when he thought she was going to hit him. She looked down at him and hissed "I hate you so much you Orphaned freak!" before throwing her end at him and walking back up the stairs and slamming the door hard behind her. Branch sat still for a few seconds before he slowly removed the rest of the thing from his now very sore neck and carefully placed it off to the side, he took in several deep breaths still trying to get his breathing back to normal.

A soft touch from Poppy quickly brought Branch out of his bad memory and back to reality. Her sad eyes met his "You're safe now," she said as she took his hand into hers "and nothing like that is going to happen to you again."

Branch smiled at her; he was happy to have her in his life. If it hadn't had been for her who knows what would have happened to him.

"Okay kids!" Peppy shouted from the kitchen "Dinner time!"

The two young trolls made their way to the dinning room where Branch was greeted with a plate of the most delicious looking food, he thanked Peppy again for allowing him to stay and giving him something to eat. Taking a seat next to Poppy he took a bite of food; all the wonder flavors began dancing around in his mouth. He savored it before swallowing it because it was still somewhat painful, but he did his best to ignore the pain and fill his empty belly. After dinner Branch watched Poppy as she worked on her scrapbooking. He liked the way her nose scrunched when she was concentrating on her art or how she sometimes she would stop and smile at what she was working on. As he watched her Branch began to get this sudden urge to just kiss her on the lips and he didn't know why. He quickly shook that thought out of his head and went back to just watching her work.

Later that night when Branch was getting ready for bed he couldn't help but to look at his reflection in the mirror like he had so many times before, there wasn't a spot on him that didn't have some kind of mark. A soft knock his door caused him to jump as he quickly put on his night clothes, after getting dressed he walked over and opened the door. "I just wanted to say good night," Poppy said giving him one of her sweet smiles that made stomach do a flip-flop and his cheeks go hot. She then leaned forward and very carefully embraced him in a soft hug, Branch raised his left arm and hugged her back.

"Goodnight Poppy," he said as they both pulled away from their hug.

"Night," she replied.

Branch watched her leave to go back to her own room before and made his way over to the bed and climbed in. It did not take him long to fall asleep once he found a less painful position to sleep in, once he did, he was out within seconds. Everything about the bed was comfortable, it was so soft that it felt like he was sleeping on a cloud. However not matter how comfortable the bed was it didn't stop the nightmares from haunting his dreams and soon he was flooded with them. Reliving all of the horrible things that he had gone through…


End file.
